


Sleepless

by getoffmyhead



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Consent Issues, Double Penetration, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, M/M, Maleficent/Fairy Tale AU, Polyamory Negotiations, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:34:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29271834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/getoffmyhead/pseuds/getoffmyhead
Summary: Sid's heart soared at the sight of Zhenya napping on the bed. He edged past the woman to Zhenya's side, reaching to wake him. Only, when he touched Zhenya's hand, it felt cold. Sid jerked a look up at the woman in the doorway. "He's dead?""No," she said with pursed lips. "My husband is sleeping.""But he's ice cold. How—" Sid's mind spun in circles, desperately searching for a hold before he latched onto what she had said. "Husband?"
Relationships: Sidney Crosby/Anna Kasterova/Evgeni Malkin
Comments: 12
Kudos: 33
Collections: Sid/Geno/Anna Exchange: Round 3





	Sleepless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silkymittsmcgee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silkymittsmcgee/gifts).



> This is _very_ loosely based on Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent, but it's not a faithful adaptation.

Sid met Zhenya in the infancy of winter, during the first invasion of bitter cold down from the north. The chill came early that year. The cellar still held fresh apples from the fall orchard harvest when the snow began. Yet it couldn’t come early enough for Sid. From the first sight of falling flakes, Sid had his eye on the palace gates. After the first three days of hard freeze, Sid could wait no longer. He rode out after breakfast with skates tied over his horse’s shoulders and his stick in the sword mount of his saddle.

The whole kingdom knew where the prince practiced. Even the most enthusiastic participants in the winter hockey games usually gave him his chosen ice space, particularly for the first freeze of the year. So it took Sid by surprise when he rode up to the banks of the river and spotted another skater handling a puck across the ice. Sid drew back on the reins, squinting to identify the figure. He was too tall to be Tanger or Horny. It certainly wasn’t Flower skating out—not with those soft hands. Whoever he was, he was good. As he watched, the conniving part of Sid whispered that he could scout this man for his team. 

Sid dismounted and tied his horse before the other skater noticed him. He kept one eye on the man while he unloaded his gear, then made his way down the sloping bank. Only when he reached the surface of the ice did the man notice him—he jumped in surprise and came to an abrupt stop when his eyes fell on Sid.

On closer inspection, Sid could assure himself he did not know this man. He could pick out even the less frequent participants in the weekend games, and this was a stranger. In his mind, his father's voice warned him about political rivals, about protecting himself from becoming a hostage against the kingdom. The wise choice would be to return to his horse and run back to the castle instead of exposing himself to whatever danger this man posed.

But the man didn't look like a threat. He seemed wary, near bolting away from Sid himself. His eyes cut past Sid to the riverbank where, turning, Sid could see a pack. The man couldn't run without abandoning his things. Sid didn't think he was a spy or an assassin. He only wanted to skate on the first good ice of the year—same as Sid.

With his mind made up to stay, Sid called out to the man. "Good morning! Did you test the ice?"

The man darted a final wary look at his pack before returning his eyes to Sid with a guarded frown and a small nod. He pointed, and Sid could see where the hole still sat open, a thin channel in the ice to test the depth.

"Do you mind?" Sid asked, gesturing with his own skates dangling from his hand. The man’s dark eyes wandered from the skates to the stick in Sid's other hand and back to his face. He shrugged.

"Sure. But only one puck," the man said in an accent—not one Sid could identify offhand.

"Don't worry, I brought more." Sid dumped his pack out, and a dozen pucks scattered. 

As Sid sat down to put his skates on, the man’s eyes lingered on his face. Sid felt the stare and glanced up curiously to find the man’s eyebrows drawn together in thought. He looked like he couldn't figure out where he'd seen Sid before. It sometimes happened when people weren't regular visitors of the palace. The man might have only seen Sid in a parade or glimpsed his portrait in the papers—enough familiarity to know he _should_ know his face, but nothing solid enough to place him. 

Which, Sid thought, was perfect for him. The man wouldn’t hold back to hide behind pomp and propriety. They could just play hockey together like normal young men. Instead of introducing himself as the prince and heir to the throne, Sid yanked his laces tight and simply said, "I'm Sid."

"Zhenya," the man said.

"Well, Zhenya. Most people don't know about this spot. How did you find it?"

“I follow river. Water is good, and it’s slow here so it make ice.”

It was precisely why Sid had chosen the spot many years ago. The purity of the mountain-sourced river water made the ice clean and relatively smooth. “I can’t fault your taste,” Sid said as he climbed to his feet. He found Zhenya still scanning him, perhaps still sleuthing about his identity. “Come on, ice is waiting.” Sid clapped Zhenya on the shoulder on his way to the open ice.

Thankfully, Zhenya was more hungry for a hockey partner than suspicious about Sid. By the time they started a one-on-one shinny across the ice, he was laughing along and trying to bully Sid into the snow on the side of the river.

They played until their legs grew wobbly and they could no longer feel their toes. When he could skate no more, Sid plopped down on the ice with his legs splayed out in front of him, panting and grinning. He watched as Zhenya went to his pack and pulled something out, then glided over and fell beside Sid. The thing turned out to be a sandwich. Zhenya tore it in two and offered half to Sid.

"Thanks,” Sid said. “I should have thought to bring something."

"You live very far?" Zhenya asked around a bite of bread and meat.

Sid scanned Zhenya's face and found not a hint of deception. "You haven’t figured it out yet, eh?" he asked, feeling a little sad that he was going to be forced to give the game up. He had enjoyed having Zhenya treat him like a non-royal, roughing him up against the snow-covered banks to get him off the puck without caring if Sid got angry about it. Most people turned their aggressive play into profuse apologies when they realized it was the prince suffering their attack. Zhenya only smirked at him, a challenge and a tease.

Zhenya squinted, searching Sid for identifying clues one last time, and then shrugged. “No. I know you?”

"Not really. I, uh. I live back there," Sid said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "Through the hedgerows and up the gravel drive. On the third floor of the palace."

Zhenya slowly stopped chewing while Sid talked. "You—Prince Charming?"

"Oh god, please," Sid laughed. He must be turning red, as hot as his face felt. It was a moniker the people had given him, spurred on by the paper sellers, at once mocking and praising what they considered his affable demeanor. "Don't call me that."

"Your highness, sorry—"

"Not that either. Please, just—call me Sid? You've been using my name all morning, and the kingdom didn't crumble."

Zhenya swallowed, eyes wide, but he eventually nodded. "Okay, if you want. I call you Sid."

They ate in tense silence until Sid couldn't bear Zhenya’s careful glances and asked, "How about you? Where do you live? Near here, I guess." As far as he could tell, Zhenya had walked to the river in the snow, so he couldn't have come from more than a mile away.

"No, not close. Very far."

Sid searched around and again spotted no horse other than his own. "How far are we talking?"

Zhenya jerked his chin toward the East. Sid followed the gesture with his eyes until they fell on the forbidden mountains. Jagged and perpetually snow-coated, the mountains marked the border of the kingdom. Technically, they existed within the realm of Sid’s father, but nobody ever went there. They were deemed too full of creatures and demons and wicked things for anyone to venture into the dense trees.

"The mountains?" Sid chuckled nervously when Zhenya nodded because he wanted it to be a joke. But something about the indifference in Zhenya's face said he wasn't kidding. "Yeah, right. You're neighbors with the witches and monsters, eh?"

Zhenya shrugged, tightlipped. Sid stared at him for another second, waiting for Zhenya to laugh. It had to be a joke. Even if the mountains weren't home to evil magic, they were much too far away for Zhenya to have journeyed down on foot to skate the river.

So, Sid concluded as he shoved the last bite of sandwich into his mouth and chewed it, his new friend had a very dry sense of humor. There were worse traits for a man to have. With his mind made up, Sid clambered to his feet and brushed the snow off his legs.

"Up for another round?"

Zhenya followed him out to the ice, seeming only too happy to be done getting questioned about where he lived.

When they finally called it a day in the early afternoon, Sid's feet ached in the best way. The two of them exchanged their skates for boots beside Zhenya's pack. When he was finished dressing, with nothing left to do but go home, Sid stood and hovered uncertainly until Zhenya prompted him with raised eyebrows and a curious grin. 

"I'll be back tomorrow,” Sid said, spinelessly trying to play it cool. “Same time."

Crouched beside his pack, Zhenya craned his head up to squint at Sid. He didn’t get it, didn’t perceive Sid’s announcement as an invitation. 

Well, there was nothing to do but throw off the cloak of casual coolness and outright say it. "You know. If you wanted to come back, too. I come every day. And—I like skating with you."

Zhenya seemed surprised by his own smile when it came, brightening his face. The beatific expression soothed the sting of his words when he said, "I like, too. But it might be hard for me."

"Oh. Okay. Well, if you can."

"I will try."

"I'd really like that," Sid said, too hopeful about seeing Zhenya again to play it cool. "So, until next time."

"Maybe," Zhenya said, possibly teasing Sid about his eagerness. The wry twist of Zhenya's mouth confirmed it, and Sid's heart bounced into an optimistic staccato as he turned and walked away, entirely hopeful that he would see Zhenya again.

Sid got halfway to his horse before it occurred to him that Zhenya had said he lived far away. He surely didn't live in the mountains, but it might well be across the city or out on some farm. Sid turned back, calling, "Hey, do you need a ride—"

Sid stopped, stunned to find the place where Zhenya had been crouched now empty. He looked around in mute shock. Not only did he not see Zhenya, he saw no tracks in the snow. Zhenya was simply _gone_.

***

Sid returned to the palace in mid-afternoon, feeling dazed. His head spun at the mysterious encounter on the ice as he handed his horse off to a stable hand and meandered his way up the path to the door. He made it three distracted steps into the palace before his sister's voice exclaimed, "There you are!"

Sid jumped at Taylor's sharp tone. He turned and discovered her bustling up to him.

"Come on, hurry. You need to get changed," Taylor said, grabbing his arms to push him toward the stairs.

"What? Why?"

"Dad's pissed. You were supposed to have lunch with the council, remember?"

"No," Sid said. It was honestly the first he'd heard of it.

"It's on your calendar, Sid," Taylor groaned. She darted around in front of him to lead the charge to his rooms. "It's okay, though. I stood in for you, did the charm and smile thing while you went and skated _without me_."

"Sorry. It's just, you know. The first skate of the season." Sid shrugged when she glared back at him. "Besides, you hate skating the river. 'It's boring, Sid. I'm cold,'" he mocked. Taylor's glare intensified.

"Well, you're lucky I didn't go. I took notes at lunch. I'll fill you in on what they discussed so far while you get dressed. Then you can catch up with them in the meeting hall."

Sid couldn’t stop the groan that escaped him. "They're still meeting?"

"Yes, Sid. The rulers of the kingdom spend more than a meal discussing urgent policy matters."

"Why don't you go for the rest of it, then? Since you've got a head start. Be my stand-in."

"They're not going to listen to me on what to do about the dragon on the border."

"Why not? I'm sure you have lots of good ideas."

"Because _I'm_ not going to be king," Taylor said, rolling her eyes back at him.

"You could be. I think you'd make a great king," Sid said, grinning. "I'll step down, then you can go to meetings and run the kingdom and financially support your layabout older brother."

Taylor’s eye roll took another lap. "Like you would disappoint Dad. No, you have to be the good son and go into the family business. Slay the dragons. Rescue the princesses. I'll just—marry the king of somewhere useful and pop out royal babies."

There was something so genuinely bitter in her tone, so out of character that it made Sid stop walking midway up the stairs. Taylor continued stomping away from him until she noticed and whipped around with a huff.

"Tay—you know. If you're really not happy, we can talk to Dad."

Taylor cocked her hip out and crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes at him. "You're not seriously offering to abdicate."

Sid opened his mouth to say he would love nothing more than to leave the throne to his sister. He had been trained from birth to be king, but—though he _wanted_ to be a good ruler—he could never muster anything more than dutiful acceptance of the position. The only aspect of ruling he had ever truly been enthusiastic about was the part he had eagerly taken over from his father when he was sixteen—running the kingdom's Saturday hockey game each winter. He had avoided taking on any additional duties in the years since, saying he needed more time or more training.

His sister, on the other hand, had a knack for ruling. She cared about all the aspects of being a leader—not just the exciting parts. She knew about finances and wars and rotating crops in a natural way Sid could never master. Without a doubt, she would be a great queen if Sid stepped down.

But abdicating would betray Sid's father and his faith in him. One of Sid’s earliest memories involved sitting on his father's lap in the throne room, looking out at the assembled delegation of foreign dignitaries—a toddler being presented to them as their peer. His father was so sure he would be a good king. Sid closed his mouth shamefully without a word.

"I didn't think so," Taylor said. He could hear the disappointment in her voice before she tossed her hair and overtly shook it off. "Now, can you please get moving? We have to get you changed."

Sid nodded and trudged after her to his quarters to strip out of his sporting garb and into something more regal. Taylor stood outside his dressing room door, summarizing the day's meeting for him while his valet made him presentable, then quizzed him all the way to the meeting hall. She stopped him outside the doors and reached up to adjust his crown.

"There. You look like a prince. Now—go _act_ like one.”

Sid thanked her with all the sincerity he hoped she could hear, took a big breath, puffed it out, and nodded at the door attendant to let him in.

The king looked up from a pile of notes at the head of the table, eyebrows arched. "Prince Sidney, good of you to join us."

"Sorry, everyone,” Sid said with a sheepish wave. “There was a little mix up with my schedule. My fault."

His father sat back and turned to the notary with a sigh. "Gentlemen, if you don't mind a brief interruption, we should fill the prince in on our progress thus far."

"No need, I'm up to date," Sid said, cheeks burning even as he looked his father in the eye. "You're discussing the possibility of putting a bounty on the dragon to the East, bringing in slayers from other nations to assist with eradication, but you're worried an attack might only incentivize it to venture further into the kingdom."

Sid silently thanked his sister when his father's skeptical look faded into one of relief and pride. "Yes, precisely. The general was just about to provide us with some additional intelligence from the farmers nearest the mountains. As I understand it, the creature has been intentionally avoiding human casualties?"

Sid forced himself not to hurry to his seat, to stride regally across the floor to his spot on his father's right. When he was settled, his father waved a hand at the general in a gesture to begin.

Sid spent the remainder of his day slumped in a chair, daydreaming about his mystery skater while the council waxed on about the dangers of allowing a wild dragon to remain in the kingdom. While they discussed the possibility of mobilizing the army, Sid thought of Zhenya. He wanted to see him again, wanted to skate with him. Perhaps next time, Sid could take a net down and set it up on the frozen river, mount some targets in the corners for accuracy practice. He thought Zhenya might like that, a way to show off his soft hands.

With his mind thoroughly absent, Sid didn't hear more than a few words of the council discussions. When asked directly, he regurgitated his sister's opinions that attacking a dragon would invite carnage on their people, endanger those least able to defend themselves. Suppose the dragon remained little more than a nuisance on the Eastern border. In that case, they might be better off waiting it out, seeing if it migrated on in the spring after it shook off the winter chill. Most of the military advisers looked pleased and relieved by his response, while the master of coin looked annoyed. No doubt he was frustrated with the continued loss of assets, however minor.

"Can't win them all, I guess," Sid told Taylor in the evening when he went to fill her in on the rest of the afternoon's meetings. They were sitting across a table with a backgammon board between them, playing idly while they chatted.

"As long as you convince them," Taylor said, chewing her lip while she focused on rolling the dice. "I've seen the dragon. We don't want to poke that bear and risk it decimating our people before we can stop it."

Sid bit down on speaking his thought—that she could convince the council more effectively than her words coming from his mouth. But they both knew she had no place in the decision-making process without holding a legitimate stake in the country's future. She could play his advisor all day, but it was Sid who would rule. And that was all the council saw.

Sid kept quiet, and so did Taylor. The dice made the only sound in the unhappy room.

***

In the morning, Sid ordered a packed lunch from the kitchen and took it down to the stables to rig a small cart to a draft horse. He swung by the storage area beside the lake and lifted one of the old nets from the Saturday game into the cart. Then he set out for the river, hope blooming in his heart to see Zhenya again.

When he crested the hill with a view of the river, his hope dipped. The ice was pristine from a light dusting of overnight snow. Even from a distance, he could tell there were no new skate marks. Zhenya hadn't returned.

Sid urged the flagging horse forward, determined to get to the ice and set up the net. Zhenya had said he might have a hard time getting away. Maybe he had a demanding job and had to find free time between tasks. Sid had diligently checked the calendar after his sister's rebuke the day before, and he had the time to wait. He would set up the net and do some skills work until Zhenya arrived.

His optimism faded as time dragged on. He had started on some skill-sharpening drills he could do by himself. He ran through all the ones he knew, then made adjustments and reran them, always with half of his attention on the riverbank where he'd last seen Zhenya. Other than a few startled deer, no one approached.

As Sid ate lunch alone on the ice, his eyes drew toward the mountains. Surely, Zhenya couldn't mean he lived there with the demons. But what if he did? The way Zhenya had disappeared—could that have been magic?

Sid shook his head at his thought and started packing up. Magic hadn't existed in the realm since before Sid's father was born. It was banished by his ancestors. No magician would dare venture into the kingdom, risk being jailed and tried just to ice skate. Zhenya had simply run away, which—honestly wasn't better. Zhenya sprinting away from Sid didn't provide much hope that he would return to their skating spot.

Sid put everything back in the cart, mood dampened by the idea that Zhenya might not want to see him again. He stomped back to get the goal and threw it into the cart, which startled the horse into trotting forward. Sid cursed and ran after it, grasping for the reins.

"You want to run away too, eh?" Sid said when he reached the moon-eyed horse's head. He stroked its nose soothingly. "I get that reaction a lot these days."

The horse snorted indignantly but slowly lowered its head to accept more of Sid's affection.

"Maybe I should have scratched his nose, eh? You think it would have made him come back?"

Sid's sense of humor did nothing for the horse, which nibbled at his jacket.

"Okay, I get it. Let's get back home so you can eat." Sid patted the horse's neck and gathered the reins where they had fallen in the flight.

Before Sid swung up onto the cart, he looked back at the last place he had seen Zhenya. He remembered the wry grin on Zhenya's face, teasing him. A swell of renewed determination filled him as he stepped up onto the cart. Zhenya had said it might take time, so Sid would give him time. He would come back the next day and the day after—every day until Zhenya returned.

For five days, Sid kept up his morning journey to the river without sighting his mysterious acquaintance. He drew his on-ice workouts out, massaging them from one to two—sometimes even three hours to keep busy, but Zhenya never returned.

On the sixth day, winter hockey officially began.

Taylor breezed into Sid's rooms along with the footmen delivering breakfast in the morning, dressed head to toe in light sporting gear that would fit under the padding they wore during games. She loved hockey as much as Sid. Opening day was practically their favorite holiday, starting with a big pancake breakfast together before they headed down to the pond.

"Who will you put on the first line?" Taylor asked while she coated her stack of pancakes in maple syrup.

"You, of course."

"Stop it," she said with her eyes squinting closed with laughter. She always played goalie, so she wouldn't be on a line. "For real, who's first?"

Sid named off the first line, which made Taylor nod. When she prompted him, Sid gave her the remaining two lines and all of the defense pairs, running down the chemistry and experience levels between each player and why they would work together. As he spoke, she watched him pensively—maybe a little sadly.

"You know, if you can learn to think about running the country the same way you think about hockey, you'll be a great king."

Sid wrinkled up his nose in distaste. "New rule—no talking about running the kingdom on opening day. It's a downer."

Taylor laughed at him and shook her head. "You know, you can't avoid it forever."

"I can avoid it today, and that's all that matters. Now hurry up and eat. You'll need energy for the games."

The games ran from morning until just before sundown. As the overseer of the event, Sid used the excuse of his station to stay on the pond from the first game to the last, even though his own team didn't play until the final game. He stood around for hours in the cold watching the games, then ended the night sore and stiff, laughing with his teammates as they parted ways.

***

In the morning, Sid nearly didn't get up to go to the river. His thighs ached from pushing himself during the game. His feet felt tender from the skates. But they had won, a reminder which made him smile before he had even decided whether to move from his bed. He could get someone to come in, bring him coffee and food. He could stay in bed all morning if he wanted to—until his father's meetings pulled him away. He groaned and put a pillow over his head. If he suffocated, he wouldn't have to see the council about anything important.

Sid thought again of how Zhenya smiled before he left—before he disappeared—eyes shining with mischief. There was so much more to Zhenya than guarded looks and wary glances, and Sid had only gotten a tiny peek. If he didn't go to the river, Zhenya might come back. He might see that Sid wasn't there and decide never to return. Sid might never find out what hid behind Zhenya's suspicious glares.

With that motivation, Sid groaned his way into his winter clothes. He probably wouldn't even skate, he told himself. He would just ride down to the river and stake it out for a while. Just to see. Then he would come right back in time for the afternoon meetings. Nobody would even know he was gone. He grabbed lunch from the kitchen—enough for two, just in case—and trudged out to the barn.

"A cart today, sir?" the stable boy asked, already making his way toward the back of the stables where the draft horses stayed.

"No, not today," Sid called. His arms felt too tired to lift the net. Besides, if he wasn't skating, there was no point taking it down. "Just my stallion, please."

The stable boy changed directions, trotting off to gather Sid's dappled grey warhorse instead. They saddled him together while chatting idly. The boy wanted to be part of the weekend games when he was old enough. Perhaps two more years, and he would get there, Sid assured him.

"Maybe I'll draft you on my team,” Sid said. “You can play with the prince."

"Or the king," the boy said, his grin like the warmth of the sun on a summer day.

Sid balked at the reminder, hesitated long enough for the boy's smile to fade before he found footing with his words, and chuckled. "Let's not write my dad off just yet, eh? He's pretty fit."

The boy stammered an apology, turning beet red and horrified at the implication while Sid tried to absolve him. His forgiveness did no good. The boy was still explaining when Sid cinched the final buckle, unclipped his horse, and led the steed outside.

"Tell you what—you can make it up to me," Sid said back to the boy when he had mounted his restless horse. "If my sister comes looking for this beast, tell her he's out to pasture. You haven't seen me all day."

"Yes, sir. Of course."

With that, Sid nudged the horse forward into an eager canter, free in the knowledge that his sister wouldn't come chasing him. He would be back in time, and it was a big palace. She couldn't search the whole thing. She never needed to know he was gone.

Sid's good intentions about getting back in time to fulfill his obligations became a distant memory when, as he approached the river, he heard the cut of skates on the ice. His heart leaped like his horse under his spirited urging, pushing the stallion forward until he could see the figure on the ice.

Zhenya spotted Sid immediately, almost as though he had kept an eye on the horizon for him. He stopped skating at the riverbank and waved up at him, his breath fogging in the cold.

"You're back!" Sid cried as he sprung off his horse. He pulled his skates loose from the saddle and unsheathed his stick.

"Sure, I say I can try, right?" Zhenya said, teasing Sid for his eagerness.

"I was starting to wonder."

Zhenya shrugged, watching Sid come down the river bank. "It's not easy sometimes to get away. But I come as soon as I can. For you."

Sid felt his face heat up, pleased that Zhenya returned explicitly for him, and plopped down to remove his boots and replace them with skates.

"I would test ice, but I see you come here a lot," Zhenya said, gesturing out at the skate trails all over the ice from bank to bank. "You have nothing to do, Prince Charming? You just come to play all day?"

Sid bit down on his rebuke that he was coming every day because he wanted to look for Zhenya—too desperate. Instead, he grinned down at his laces and pulled them tight. "Royalty has its privileges," Sid said, ignoring the itch in the back of his mind reminding him that he actually did have somewhere to be that afternoon. He could still make it, and if not—well. Taylor would be angry, but she could fill him in on whatever he needed to know.

"You do whatever you want," Zhenya said. It didn't sound like a question—it was more wistful than that. It sounded more like a wish. Maybe Zhenya wanted to be able to skate every day instead of doing whatever kept him away.

"Not always," Sid admitted. He finished off his skates in silence before he looked up to find Zhenya watching him. Reflexively, he grinned to lighten the mood. "But today, my friend—I'm all yours. Let's do this."

Again, they skated together, pushed each other until they were sweating in the cold. This time, Sid shared his lunch with Zhenya.

"Fancy," Zhenya said, eyebrows raised at the spread of meats and cheeses and bread the cook had packed.

"You should see what he can do when he really cooks. Maybe I can take you up to the palace sometime. We can eat up there."

Zhenya's eyes shone with want. "You would show me?"

"Of course. We can go today if you want."

Zhenya looked at the sky, judging the time. "I can't today."

"Okay, no problem. Next time. We'll skate just enough to get hungry and then ride up there."

"I want to," Zhenya said, a shy and unguarded smile working onto his face. He looked a little pink across his cheeks, too, like he was thinking something embarrassing. The way his eyes darted to Sid's mouth, Sid thought he knew what it might be.

Sid spent their next few encounters testing his theory. Zhenya reappeared after three days, and Sid intentionally sat in his personal space while they talked after skating. A few days later, Sid let his fingers linger on Zhenya's knee. After that, Sid really pushed things and reached out to put a grape to Zhenya's lips and feed him. Zhenya didn't move away from any of it.

By the time Zhenya conceded to go to the palace for lunch, Sid had no hesitation about keeping one hand on Zhenya's thigh where it pressed against his as Zhenya rode behind him. He even thought he felt Zhenya's fingers testing the buttons of Sid's vest where he had his arms wrapped around Sid's chest.

Sid arranged to take their lunch in his rooms for privacy. Despite Zhenya's concession to join him, Sid didn't think he wanted to answer a lot of strangers' questions. Zhenya looked pretty shell-shocked just from the expansive rooms.

"You get used to it," Sid said without authority—like he'd ever experienced living in anything _but_ the palace.

"Hey," Sid tried again when Zhenya kept looking around like the ceiling might cave in on him. Sid reached out a hand, unsure if they were there yet. Zhenya stared at it for a second before he took halting steps forward and grasped it, a lifeline. Sid felt full to bursting with fondness for Zhenya and would have kissed him right there if the door hadn't opened, breaking them apart.

The footmen set their places at the table in Sid's sitting room. Zhenya watched them like a fox, suspicious and tense. He didn't sit at the table until they were gone.

Fortunately, the palace cook never let Sid down. Zhenya took a bite, and his eyebrows jumped up. Sid grinned. "Good?"

"So good," Zhenya said, digging in.

When the meal was finished, Sid resisted calling the footmen to take the dishes. Instead, he grasped Zhenya's hand and led him to the bedroom. As with all the other times when Sid had tested the boundaries of their growing friendship, Zhenya didn't resist, not even when Sid sat on the bed and pulled him down, too.

Zhenya didn't move while Sid ran his thumb across Zhenya's cheek. His eyes remained locked intently on Sid's. There was no question in Sid's mind when he leaned in that Zhenya wanted to kiss him. Sid kept going and eased their lips together in a first tender kiss.

Zhenya made no effort to protest when Sid nudged him back onto the bed. He shuffled back until his shoulders rested against the pillows and, without prompting, shifted his legs apart so Sid could settle between them. His breath shook nervously against Sid's mouth, but he seemed eager to have their bodies touching.

With Zhenya's willingness firmly secured, Sid divested them both of clothing, piece by piece, until they were bare, skin against skin. Zhenya looked wide-eyed at him when Sid pushed his cock against the cut of Zhenya's groin, but he didn't ask to stop. Instead, he reached for Sid to pull him down and kiss him.

Sid worked their hips together for as long as he could stand it before the tease of sweat-slick pressure broke him. He forgot his gentle coaxing to spit in his hand and wrap it directly around Zhenya's cock. He could hear Zhenya's surprised inhale in response but paid it no mind. He reached for Zhenya's hand and kissed his palm before he spit there as well and pushed it down. Zhenya got the overt hint and copied Sid's actions. When Sid pumped his hand, Zhenya did the same. When Sid sped up, Zhenya followed. He could guide Zhenya to touch him exactly as he liked.

They each found their pleasure in quick strokes of the hand, quieting their noises in each other's mouths. Sid wiped his hand on the blanket and collapsed beside Zhenya, breathing hard and grinning. He was relieved when he looked over and found Zhenya's soft smile back at him, nothing nearing regret in his face.

"That was good,” Sid said. “Good lunch."

Zhenya snorted and said, "Yes, good lunch." Then he scooted close and put his head on Sid's shoulder.

It became their new routine. Sid tried to feel more flattered than amused when Zhenya's visits became far more regular with the promise of sex. They skated together near-daily and almost always returned to the palace for lunch and more. Sid was glad for discrete footmen, who certainly knew more than they would ever let on.

***

The kingdom was a month into Saturday games when one of Sid's top wingers hurt himself. They were racing up the boards, Sid on Jake's flank to take a feed from him. Jake got the pass away, clapped it right onto the blade of Sid's stick with precision accuracy. Sid cut away, past the defender from the other team, and shot. As the goalie snagged it, Sid heard the crash of a body going hard into the boards. His eyes found Jake crumpled in the corner, groaning while he clutched at his arm.

The team knew before Jake left the ice that his season was done. Sid quickly rearranged the lines for the remainder of the game, but he had an idea in the back of his mind. Sid knew precisely where he could find a replacement for Jake.

Sid rode out early the next morning to meet Zhenya at the river. He thought he might beat him there, but instead, he rode up on Zhenya just starting to get his boots off.

"Hold up, don't change yet," Sid called, not dismounting. He carefully walked the horse down the riverbank to stand next to Zhenya and held out a hand. "Come with me."

"You don't want to skate today?" Zhenya asked, eyes sparkling.

"I do. Just not here. Come on, I'll show you what real ice looks like."

Zhenya huffed a skeptical sound, but a grin pulled at his mouth. He got up, dusted off his trousers, and handed his skates up to hang them over the saddle with Sid's. Then he took the offered hand and swung up behind Sid on the horse.

"I think you like this, where I ride," Zhenya said by his ear, lips brushing against his neck before pressing a kiss there. His fingers crept down to Sid's thighs and brushed against his crotch.

Sid grinned back at him and found Zhenya looking so smug and pleased with himself. Sid slid his own hands down to cover Zhenya's, briefly pushing Zhenya's palm against his dick before removing them to his chest. "Hold on," he said before he tapped the horse's flank and urged him forward.

They galloped across the palace grounds, throwing up powdery snow in their wake. The horse snorted his breaths out, steaming in the cold air, and stretched his legs when Sid let him loose. His smooth gait carried them all the way across and down the hill, where they caught sight of the pond where the boards were constructed.

"You have real rink," Zhenya said. He sounded excited—he knew exactly what it was. Sid had a moment of curiosity about where this man had come from. He knew so much about the game, had clearly seen a rink before, but he didn't play in the Saturday games. As far as Sid knew, he had never even attended one. So he must have been playing somewhere else, in whatever kingdom he came from.

"When was the last time you played with boards?" Sid asked as he slowed his horse to a walk. He didn't think it was a leading question, but he never knew what would trigger Zhenya to close his mental gates and shut his walls to Sid's intrusions.

Sure enough, Zhenya shuttered. Sid could feel him shrug. "Maybe a while. I don't know."

"Want me to show you the rules?"

At that, Zhenya snorted. Sid was learning how to crack his defenses. Sly digs at his abilities or knowledge usually teased him out. "I know all rules. Better than you."

"Oh yeah?" Sid pulled the horse up next to the rink. "Show me, then."

And show him Zhenya did. Out on the river, where the ice was choppy and pitted, Zhenya worked slowly, methodically moving his hands and feet in a way that negated the wild ice. On the rink, with a smoothly surfaced area to work with—Zhenya _flew_.

"Holy shit, you're fast," Sid panted after trying and failing to catch Zhenya on a breakaway down to the net. He knew he looked absolutely delighted, grinning ear to ear.

"Yes, I know," Zhenya said, smirking. He looked so proud of himself. The kingdom was going to love him in the Saturday games. All Sid had to do was convince him.

Sid bided his time. He didn't ask while they were on the ice. Frankly, he was enjoying himself too much to think about it. Zhenya's soft hands and fast feet were doing things to him. He played as long as he could stand it and then ferried them back to the palace and to his rooms where they could be alone.

Getting between Zhenya's legs, knowing what those legs could _do_ , was a whole new experience. Sid was worked up from the minute he got Zhenya's clothes off, reaching for the oil to touch his beautiful, round ass.

"Fuck, I knew you were strong, but you're so much better than I thought," Sid panted while he worked his fingers inside Zhenya. "You look like you're going to tear through the ice when you skate. You push so hard."

"You like it so much," Zhenya said. He wasn't teasing. Instead, his eyes were wide and curious.

“I like _you_ so much. God, Zhenya. You're so good." Sid snapped his mouth shut before he said anything more, but he could tell by the overwhelmed look on Zhenya's face that he had gone plenty far enough. Zhenya knew the rest. He must know how Sid was drawn to him.

Zhenya reached to touch Sid's face, eyes soft and searching. He hooked a heel around Sid's thigh and pulled him forward, encouraging him until Sid lined himself up and pushed inside with a relieved groan.

Zhenya clutched at Sid's shoulders while they moved together. His gasps and groans found Sid's ear, softly encouraging him. In the end, when Sid was helpless to stop his own pleasure, he was sure he heard Zhenya let out a sob. The sound was followed by the hot splash of Zhenya's release against Sid's stomach while Zhenya tightened around him, pulling him over. 

Sid used the last of his energy to flop over and pull Zhenya into his arms. Zhenya didn't say anything. He buried his face into Sid's neck, where Sid couldn't see his face.

"So," Sid said in the quiet. "You like the rink?"

"Yes, it's good," Zhenya said. His voice sounded strange and far away, but perhaps he was still dazed from their coupling. Sid pushed forward with his agenda.

"We play there every Saturday, you know. A few teams. People come to watch. It's fun."

Zhenya nuzzled closer to him. "Yes, you tell me before."

"My team had an injury yesterday," Sid said, pressing. "So we have a spot. I wondered if you might want it."

"Want to play with you?" Zhenya asked, rearing back. His tone and expression were both hard to decipher. He didn't sound excited, mostly—scared?

"Sure, if you want."

Sid had been so sure Zhenya would say yes. Instead, Zhenya said firmly, "No, I think I can't."

"Why not? It's only once a week, Saturday afternoons—"

"I say I _can't_ ," Zhenya said, face turning more to stone by the second. He wrenched himself up and swung out of bed. Sid sat up to watch him snap his shirt from the floor, eyes firmly not meeting Sid's.

"Hey, it's cool. Don't play in the Saturday games—I don't care."

"I think this is a bad idea," Zhenya said while his shaking fingers buttoned his shirt.

The unexpected yank of a rug pulled out from under him left Sid spinning. "This? What this?"

"I should never do this. I make you think—" Zhenya cut himself off to pull on his trousers.

"What?"

Zhenya grimaced with his hands clenched around the waistband of his trousers. "I make you think I can stay here. I can't. It's not forever."

Sid grasped for words, anything, but he could barely draw a breath. In the meantime, Zhenya got himself dressed and returned to the bed without meeting Sid's eyes. He looked as upset as Sid felt when he said, "I won't come back." 

Zhenya put his hands around Sid's cheeks and kissed him hard. Their lips lingered together. When Zhenya tore away, he did it fast like he couldn't bear to let go otherwise. "Goodbye."

Sid felt frozen to the bed while he watched Zhenya cross the room to retrieve his pack. He forced his body to respond, to kick out of bed and go after him. "Zhenya, wait."

Zhenya dug in his pack and pulled something out—a small stone. He hastily threw the bag on one shoulder and gripped the stone in his palm. He looked at Sid striding toward him before he squeezed the stone and disappeared.

***

The dragon attacked in the night. Sid felt as though he had barely closed his eyes, too upset about Zhenya's abrupt departure to sleep, when he jerked awake to the sound of its fury—an ear-splitting screech like a gigantic owl. It sounded so close it might be right outside the castle. Sid pressed his hands over his ears as he ran from his bedroom, stumbling down the hall. Taylor met him halfway, clutching his arm.

"Sid, it's the dragon. I was wrong. It's attacking."

Sid cut her off by pulling on her arm. "Come on."

He dragged Taylor long enough to get her moving, running with him toward their parents' wing. They needed to gather together and take shelter in the dungeons. Even if the dragon tore the whole building down, they would be safe beneath it.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, the palace shook with the force of a crash outside. Sid froze, grasping at Taylor to get her to stop also. In the moonlight through the windows, he could just see the movement of an enormous form.

"It's on the ground," Taylor whispered, stating the obvious with her eyes fixed on the undulating motion of the gigantic beast. "Is it going to burn us?"

Sid sincerely hoped not, but given that this dragon had never landed anywhere close to the palace before, he had to wonder. What had brought it down after so many months of it staying on the outskirts of the kingdom?

To his sister's worried face, Sid said softly, "It's not going to burn us. It's probably just looking for food. Animals. It'll head for the stables or the barn. Let's just get to mom and dad and—"

Screeching filled the palace again, rattling painfully around in Sid's head, followed by the whump of wings fighting for altitude. When he could take his hands away from his ears and look, Sid found that the scaly body outside was gone. Impertinently, Sid ran to the window and looked out. At first, he saw nothing, then—there—a huge creature crossed in front of the moon, an outline of enormous wings. Sid was wrong. It wasn't heading for the stables. It was going the other way.

"It's heading toward the pond," Sid said as he realized, thoughts abandoned in favor of action. He sprinted for the front door as though he would be able to prevent the dragon from crashing through the ice and his precious rink if it landed there.

But the dragon did significantly more than accidentally break the ice with its weight. Sid raced outside just as it reached the pond. He could see it clearly in the moonlight. The dragon hovered over the rink, beating its wings like it was treading water to stay afloat. He could swear it glared down at the ice, the pristine rink Sid had helped construct only a few weeks ago. Then the dragon reared back, sucked in a breath, and roared. A stream of fire erupted from its mouth, hot enough that the boards immediately caught and went up. Sid could do nothing but stand and watch as the dragon maliciously heated the ice until it cracked down the middle.

"Oh my god," Taylor cried, joining him on the palace steps to stare out at the destruction. "Why is it burning the rink?"

"I don't know," Sid said hollowly. Objectively, he knew he should be grateful that the dragon only wanted to attack an uninhabited part of their kingdom. It could be so much worse. But selfishly, after losing Zhenya, also losing hockey seemed like a blow too much.

Sid could see the soldiers scrambling below them, rushing to get to the rink and the dragon. Seeing the mounting defense, the dragon huffed a final jet of flame, beat its massive wings, and shot into the sky. Sid followed the creature with his eyes as far as possible before it disappeared into the dark.

"Good lord, Prince Sidney!" the voice of the king's valet cried at the door. "Princess Taylor! What are you doing outside?"

Sid followed the bustling valet into the palace but broke off from his sister when they tried to lead him toward the dungeons. "It's gone. There's no more danger tonight."

"You don't know that," Taylor said.

Somehow, Sid felt like he did know it. Something in the dragon's movements after it destroyed his rink—satisfaction. It had accomplished what it came to do. It had no more reason to return. The memory of the dragon's flame engulfing his rink caught inside Sid, burned him inside until his anger consumed him.

Nobody in the palace slept well after the attack. Sid didn't even try. Instead, he apologetically roused his footmen to help him dress and sent for the stable boy to armor his horse.

"What are you planning to do?" Taylor asked when she found him in the morning plated in armor, ready for battle.

"I saw which way it went," Sid said. "East, into the mountains."

"Okay. And you're just going to run after it?"

Sid adjusted the elbow joint on his armor. He couldn't say what he was thinking—that somebody important to him had said he lived in those mountains where the angry dragon had flown off to. He equally couldn't admit that his desire for heroism amounted to nothing more than petty revenge. The thing took his hockey, the one part of his future role as king he could look forward to. If he allowed the dragon to stay unharmed, what would stop it from doing the same the next year? Every year? It could take hockey from him entirely.

Instead of admitting his selfish thoughts, Sid said, "Dad's too old to chase a monster into the woods. It would kill him. Besides, it's like you were saying. I'm going to be king. It's my job to kill dragons. Rescue princesses." He winked at her, and she cracked a reluctant smile in return.

"Like I need you to rescue me," she said.

"Oh, okay. I’ll let _you_ take care of the dragon, then.”

Taylor sighed and looked worried, but he could tell she was acquiescing. "Sid. Just don't get killed, okay?"

"I'll do my best."

Without waiting for his father, Sid went down to the stables and mounted his steed. He rode out for the mountains after the great beast.

***

Sid picked up the dragon's trail on the edge of the woods, a fresh gouge of three huge claws and a tuft of hair left from some unfortunate prey. He stopped to examine it—mousy brown and straight—a deer, perhaps, or an elk. The dragon had certainly been enormous enough to snatch even the largest of prey. He looked back at his horse, decked in armor but not much larger than whatever animal the dragon had snatched. If it ambushed them, they would stand no chance. Sid angled a look to the sky and returned to his horse, pushing the stallion up into the trees.

The mountains teemed with unseen life manifested in the feeling of eyes ever-present on Sid's back. He shivered and rubbed his neck, but the feeling persisted. His horse's skin jumped at every sound. Sometimes, Sid flinched with the beast, heart racing, sure they were being attacked, only to turn in his saddle and find nothing.

Though he didn't spot the dragon itself, there were signs of it here and there—a huge branch broken off the top of a tree or a clump of rocks with claw marks etched in. He knew it must live in the area, in some cave or wretched den, surrounded by treasure.

Sid was so busy searching for an animal's home that he nearly overlooked when he rode up on the first sign of human life since he entered the trees—a cozy little cabin. The trees thinned and cleared, revealing a small meadow, and in the center, the sun beamed down on a wooden house. Sid pulled his horse to a stop, transfixed at the sight of the lovely home, so out of place in the foreboding forest. He wondered who lived in the mountains and if they might be able to point him toward the dragon. Surely, they also wanted it gone.

Only, when Sid nudged his horse forward to approach the dwelling, the stallion reared, spooked by something. Steadfast and battle-hardened, the horse had never thrown Sid before. In the face of the charming cottage, that was precisely what happened. Sid lost his stirrups and crashed to the ground while the horse thundered off into the trees.

Sid cursed at the horse while he got himself up and dusted his armor off. A look in the bolting animal's direction told him it would do no good to give chase. He would only get hopelessly lost himself. Sid would have to hope that the horse would make his way back to the palace while he pressed on.

"Bad fall," a woman's voice called from the direction of the cabin. Sid spun around to find her—a tall, slender woman with long hair flowing over her shoulders, covering more skin than her shirt. It was little more than a strip of cloth across her breasts, baring her flat stomach to the world. If her immodestly bothered her, she didn't show it. She looked relaxed, leaning against the doorframe of the cabin. A smile played on her mouth like his bad fortune amused her. "Are you hurt?"

"No," Sid said, though he could feel the bruises forming. "I'm okay. Thanks."

"Why are you here?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "This is not a safe place for someone like you."

Sid started to get offended by her assumption that he couldn't handle himself in the woods, but his bristles flattened as he realized she had an accent. A _familiar_ accent. He rushed forward a few steps and only stopped short when her smile disappeared into a cautious frown.

"A dragon," Sid said eagerly. "I wanted to find a dragon, but—I'm also looking for someone. He said he lives up here. Zhenya. He's tall, dark hair. I think maybe you guys are from the same place. You know, originally."

The woman's eyebrows arched. Any trace of friendliness on her face disappeared. "You're Prince Sidney," she said flatly.

"Yes. How did you—did he tell you? Is he here?"

"Come inside."

She didn't wait for an answer before she retreated into the house, flicking her long hair over one shoulder. Sid carefully followed her through the door, past a cozy-looking den with a stone fireplace, and down a hall into a room.

Sid's heart soared at the sight of Zhenya napping on the bed. He edged past the woman to Zhenya's side, reaching to wake him. Only, when he touched Zhenya's hand, it felt cold. Sid jerked a look up at the woman in the doorway. "He's dead?"

"No," she said with pursed lips. "My husband is sleeping."

"But he's ice cold. How—" Sid's mind spun in circles, desperately searching for a hold before he latched onto what she had said. "Husband?"

The woman slipped into the room. "Zhenya say to me he want to play hockey. He ask if I will make him a hearthstone, like this." The woman waved her hand, and in it appeared a little, smooth stone—same as the one Zhenya used to disappear in front of Sid's eyes. "Instead, he goes down and find a pretty man. He goes to play without me. So," the woman shrugged. "He sleep. If I need him, I wake him up."

"You're a witch," Sid said. Ropes of fear and anxiety tightened around his chest until he felt lightheaded.

"Yes," she said. "I have a name, also. It's Anna."

"Is he—?"

"No. He's not a witch. Just a man, like you." She sounded utterly unimpressed by both of them.

"You put him to sleep. How long will you leave him like this?" Sid asked.

Anna tossed her hair like a wild horse shaking her mane and scanned him with cold eyes. “How long until he don’t want _you_? Maybe when you are old and ugly. Or when you are dead."

Sid blew out a breath at the gut punch. "You can't do that."

Anna rolled her eyes and crossed the room to approach him. Her fingers trailed along the bedpost. "You want to take him from me."

"No, I—"

"He promise before, he will never leave. He is _mine_." She waved her hand along Zhenya's body. "I take him from where he live, far away. I bring him here, where we can have magic. I give him whatever he want. I let him go to town and gossip with the little people. Let him play hockey on the river, where he can fuck some prince."

Anna stopped and cocked her head with a suddenly contemplative expression, then said pensively, "He is mine."

"Okay, yeah. I get it."

"Shut up," she sneered. "He is mine because I take him. I bring him to my house. And _you_ are also in my house.”

Sid's blood ran cold. He darted a look at the open bedroom door. He no sooner set eyes on it than it slammed shut. Sid backed away from Anna while she stalked him but ran out of room when he hit the wall. He tensed when she ran her fingers down his cheek and gripped his chin. “You _are_ handsome.”

"What are you going to do?"

"You want Zhenya—he is mine. And now," Anna raised a slim shoulder in a shrug, mouth pulling, "so are you."

"You want me to stay here?"

"If you go, you will do what? Go to the king and say, there is a witch? He comes to kill me, yes?"

It was precisely what Sid would do, bring whatever army he could amass to her door to save Zhenya.

"No, you stay here," Anna said definitively, inviting no feedback. "If you try to leave, I make you like him. You will sleep forever."

When she let him go, the air rushed out of Sid's body in a burst as though he had been punched in the stomach. "Wait."

She did not wait. She breezed toward the door like all her worries were resolved. "You can stay in here with Zhenya. Talk to him. Maybe he can hear you in his dreams."

Anna threw a cruel smile over her shoulder at him before she turned the corner and disappeared.

***

It took Sid a long time to even dare to move after Anna left. The stillness of the room, the evident absence of life, made him shudder. She had claimed that Zhenya was merely sleeping, but his chest did not move. Sid found himself afraid to return to Zhenya's side, to touch him. Instead, when he could will himself to move, Sid paced the room around the bed.

"Why did you come back here?" he asked Zhenya after a while when his legs were beginning to stiffen from his constant motion and the weight of his armor. "You could have told me about her. I would have kept you safe."

The lifeless body on the bed said nothing. Zhenya was cold, carved stone, a porcelain doll. Sid wasn't even sure the witch had been telling the truth that Zhenya might hear him. She had smirked so cruelly when she said it.

"I need to get out of here," Sid said, mumbling to himself instead of speaking to Zhenya. He crossed the room to the door and then changed his mind. She would be out there, waiting. She would stop him. Instead, Sid paced to the window and tried it. It gave easily, allowing him to lift it up and open. He turned back to the bed with a miserable grimace. "I'm so sorry, Zhenya. I can't take you with me. I need to be fast—to go get help. But I'll be back, I promise. I'm not leaving you here."

An icy wind cut through Sid when he turned to the open window. It would be a long walk back to the kingdom in this weather. He braced and swung his legs out to jump down to the ground. 

Sid stumbled just inside the front door of the cottage with no memory of entering. He was immediately aware of the witch by the fireplace.

"I tell you not to leave," Anna said, amusement in her tone. She was in a rocking chair angled toward the fire with one knee pulled up and her other foot on the floor, pushing the chair in a slow sway. She smiled over at him, her pretty face framed by a curtain of hair. "One time, it's okay. You have to try. Next time, I make you sleep."

"How did you—How did I get here?"

"A little curse." Anna demonstrated the smallness of the curse with her thumb and index finger held slightly apart. "Nothing too bad."

"Nothing too bad?" Sid cried. She had controlled his mind, made him come back to the front door without any memory of doing so.

"I can do more," she said, smile turning sharp. "If you don't behave. So—be good."

“You can’t expect me to just _stay_ here doing nothing.”

Anna put her elbow on the arm of the chair, curled her hand into a fist, and propped her chin on her knuckles to consider him. "Maybe not."

Sid tensed when she jumped up, but she didn't come near him. Instead, she strode to the kitchen and opened a cupboard. Sid watched her pull out two potatoes. "Come," she said impatiently. When he obeyed, she shoved the potatoes into his hands. "Peel."

"Peel?"

"You want to do something? We make dinner."

Sid stood frozen to the floor while she moved on to grab a pot. She filled it with water from a well bucket on the floor and gathered up a few carrots. He didn't move until she sighed and came back with a knife.

"Peel these, too."

Sid took the knife. Anna's steady stare challenged him to try anything with it, like she thought he was nothing more than an amusing, unpredictable pet. He was confident he couldn't hurt her if he tried. He turned stiffly to the counter and put the vegetables down, then began to peel them. When they were skinned, she instructed him to cut them as well, which he started before her scornful snort stopped him.

"You never use a knife before," Anna said.

Sid's mind cast him back to combat training in the yard, learning to wield a blade in a close fight. "Not for cooking, no."

"I can tell." She came to him and wrapped a hand around his on the blade. "Like this, yes? Small pieces."

Her hands were gentle on his, soft and warm. They felt like human hands, not the rough talons attributed to witches by the storytellers. When Sid had demonstrated he could follow her instructions, she nodded her reluctant approval and went out of the room.

Sid side-eyed Anna when she came back with a cut of red meat for the pot. It could be cow or possibly mutton. Or, if the rumors were true about witches, it could be something far more sinister.

Anna dropped the meat on the counter with a frustrated sound and a series of sharp syllables in her language—Sid thought it sounded like cursing. "Elk," she said, her voice clipped and irritable.

"Oh," Sid said, cowed despite himself. It wasn't as though she had been entirely innocent. She had kidnapped him, frozen Zhenya in time. He seemed well within his rights to wonder.

"We eat baby only on holiday," she continued, putting the meat down in the pot. Sid jerked a look at her face to see if she might be kidding. She stared back at him seriously, eyes blazing and hair flowing.

"You do? Both of you?"

"Oh yes, I feed to Zhenya. He like it a lot."

Sid's stomach turned before he saw it—the mean glint of laughter in her eyes. She was teasing him. "You're joking."

"Of course! Where I can find a baby here?"

Her mouth still curved in some kind of private joke. Whether she was kidding about eating human babies entirely, he couldn't be sure. He huffed a forced and nervous laugh in response and applied himself to his chopping.

When Anna was done with the meat, she came over to inspect the remainder of his work and sighed when she saw how many whole vegetables remained. She flicked her long fingers, and Sid watched them slide apart into perfect slices.

"You could have done that all along?" Sid said. "Why did you want me to do it?"

"You say you need work, I give you work. What else did you want?"

He wanted to go outside and find his horse. He wanted to find a way home and take Zhenya with him, far away from the witch's house.

"You will get better," she said, scooping the vegetables up into the air as though lifted by an invisible bowl to dump them into the pot. When she spotted him standing and staring at her, she shooed him away with a dismissive gesture. "That's all for now."

Sid's heart felt heavy. The way she dismissed him without worry, seemingly very sure that he would not be able to escape. It was daunting. He eyed the front door when he passed it, even made a few abortive moves toward it. But if she knocked him out the way she had threatened, frozen like Zhenya was, he wouldn't be able to go get help. He would lose his only chance to escape, his only chance to save them both.

Instead of trying the door, Sid journeyed back to Zhenya's bedroom and hesitantly pushed his way inside.

Zhenya lay in the exact same position, frozen on the bed. Sid eased his way inside, quieting his steps on the wood floor. His boots seemed loud in the silence. He went to the side of the bed and sat beside Zhenya's hip. When the body didn't move, he reached out and took Zhenya's porcelain hand in his.

"I'm so sorry, Zhenya. I didn't make it. But I'll try again. I'm not giving up."

Sid wished he could feel Zhenya's hand squeeze his, but it sat unmoving against his palm, warmed only by the transference of heat from Sid's own body.

***

Sid didn't realize he had fallen asleep sitting beside Zhenya before Anna burst through the door and startled him up to his feet. The smells from the kitchen wafted in with her—the meaty, earthy scent of the stew with some yeasty bread underneath. She arched an eyebrow at him while she flowed across to a wardrobe and flung it open.

"Will you wear that all night?" she asked snippily.

Sid looked down at his armor—metal plating with leather joints covering his arms, shoulders, torso, and all the way down to his boots. He had removed his gloves but otherwise remained battle-ready.

"I don't have anything else," he said with a shrug, unsure whether she really cared to know. "I came here for a fight."

"You lose fight," she said simply. "Now, you don't need it."

Sid jumped at the release of weight on his body when the heavy armor disappeared, replaced on his body by a linen shirt and fitted trousers.

Anna pulled a sweater from the wardrobe and wrapped it around herself. Even witches got cold, apparently. Then she turned her eyes to Sid, looked him over, and said, "Come. Food is ready."

Sid followed Anna cautiously out to the dining room, where she had set the table with two bowls of steaming stew and a loaf of crusty bread in the center.

"Shouldn't Zhenya eat, too?" Sid asked.

"Zhenya is fine," Anna replied, plopping down at the table and reaching for the bread. She tore off a chunk and watched him ease himself down. Her eyes remained on him, challenging him until he took the first bite of stew. Only then did she appear satisfied enough to eat.

They didn't talk much that first meal. Sid wasn't sure what he could say to her, and she seemingly had little interest in speaking to him. He helped her tidy up afterward, during which their conversation mostly consisted of her telling him how to do this or that and getting frustrated with his efforts before magicking the result.

When the sun was fully down, and Sid grew tired, he dared not ask her where he could sleep. Ideally, he could find somewhere to hide away from her and catch a few hours, though he doubted it in the small house. He had only seen one bed—Zhenya's. He wondered if he could be allowed to sleep in there, to watch over Zhenya while he caught his rest.

But he quickly found that it wasn't an option. As he went down the hall to return to Zhenya, Anna called after him, "That's my room. You can see him in the morning."

Sid whipped around to stare at her incredulously. She slept in the same room as the man who she had imprisoned? She slept at all?

Anna met his stare with a challenge. "Your room is there," she said, pointing past his shoulder at what he was absolutely sure had been a blank wall before. But when he turned, he found a hallway leading to another door. He looked back at Anna, apprehensive about moving into a space created by magic. She arched her eyebrows at him. "Well. Goodnight."

It appeared Sid had no choice. He forced his feet forward into the magic new space. It didn't feel any different from the rest of the house. The doorway at the end of the hall stood open. Inside, he found a large bedroom lit by gas lamps on either side of a four-poster bed. There was a wardrobe, similar to the one in Zhenya's—Anna's bedroom. When he opened it, he found it full of soft clothing. Clearly, Anna liked to keep her prisoners in comfort. At least he had that much.

Sid approached the bed and touched it with the palm of his hand before sitting on the side. He toed off his shoes but kept the remainder of his clothes on to sleep in. He wanted to be ready, just in case. At the first opportunity, he wanted to be prepared to run.

***

Weeks passed, filled with whatever household chores Anna could think of to give Sid. He swept the floors and did the dusting, tidied up, and stoked the fire. They cooked each night together, their conversation growing easier each time they did. But Sid never forgot that he was a prisoner.

So Sid watched and waited. He picked up on whatever weaknesses he could see in her control over him. She slept—that much he knew for a fact. He had crept down the hall one restless night and peeked into her room to find her stretched alongside Zhenya's cold body, sleeping soundly.

But her sleep was light, as he had also found out that night when he had tried to test an escape. A floorboard creaked underfoot ten feet shy of the front door, and with a pop of sound, Sid found himself back in his own bed.

In the morning, Anna had looked at him knowingly and smirked. He wasn't going anywhere.

The only other opportunity he might have to escape would be when Anna went hunting. She was always successful on her hunts, bringing back pigs and sheep and—once—a cow. Sid only ever saw the result of the hunts, though. While she was gone, she locked him inside the house, warded every exit against his escape. The windows were shuttered. He couldn't see out. But he could hear. Every time she went hunting, he heard the beat of enormous wings, and he understood.

"The dragon is yours," he said while cutting vegetables one night. She had brought a fresh pork flank in from the meat cellar, and he felt brave enough to push. 

Anna squinted at him suspiciously, as though musing on what to tell him. He used her silence to continue guessing at the truth.

"That was why it only attacked the ice rink. You sent it. It didn't care about the kingdom or the people because you were only mad at _me_."

"I am not _mad_ at you," Anna said with a sigh. When she spotted his doubtful expression, she scrunched up her nose in a grimace. "Okay, maybe a little bit mad."

"I'd say," Sid said before he could stop himself. Thankfully, Anna only smiled wryly in reply. Her amenable response made him bold enough to prod further. "Why did you let him go down to skate the river? In the beginning."

Anna's smile fell away into something distant—regretful, maybe, or wistful. "You can see him when he skate. He loves to go."

Sid found himself unable to respond. Her words were so fond—if Sid didn't know how she kept her husband prisoner, he would think she genuinely enjoyed his happiness.

"You know," she continued, turning a small grin on him. "When I meet Zhenya, he is playing hockey every day. Where he come from, his town, they have games like you. They play all the time, and Zhenya was best. All the girls love him there. And boys, too. I go only to one game, but when he see me, he want me most of all."

Sid tried to keep the surprise off his face. The idea that Zhenya might have _chosen_ Anna rather than being captured by her came as a shock. Of course, if Zhenya only saw her unparalleled beauty and thought she was a human, perhaps he had been fooled. "Did he know you were—you know."

"A witch? Yes. Everybody tell him, stay away. Don't talk to me. But he come to me after game and give me his puck. It was for three goals, so it's very special, but he say I give him luck. I say—I can give you more than luck. I can give you magic. He smile. I know then, I want him." Anna smiled at the memory, tender at first and then sharper with mischief when she continued. "But I still make him work. Bring me flower and make me food. He want me so bad, he even build me a house so I will marry him."

"A house?"

Anna side-eyed him momentarily and then gave a rueful shrug. "We live there ten years."

"Why did you leave?"

Anna's shoulders rose and fell with her sigh. "I never can stay places very long. People see I'm a witch, and they think I can control everything. Maybe the crops is bad one year, and the witch makes a curse. Maybe there is sickness. Everything is because of magic, they think. They bring fire and weapons and—" Anna cut herself off with a huffed final breath.

"They chased you out of the kingdom?" Sid asked. His suspiciousness was eaten away by his sympathy. She looked so genuinely upset when she nodded.

"I have to take Zhenya and fly away very fast. We leave everything. His family is upset, he is upset. He is very sad when we come here in summer. He miss his mother and father, his friends."

A rush of realization washed over Sid. Summer was when the dragon first appeared on the edges of the kingdom. Anna and Zhenya had fled their home not half a year ago.

"Even when the snow fall, he is sad," Anna continued. "So I think, when the river freeze, I can let him skate. If I give him hockey, he will be happy again. Instead, he find you."

Sid felt a hot flash of shame at her accusation, though she said it with far less bitterness than her voice had once held. "I'm sorry," he said, not daring to look at her. He could feel her stare on him.

"For what? You don't know Zhenya is married."

"I hurt you, though. I wish—" Sid stopped talking, throat closing on the idea of saying he wished he had never met Zhenya. He could never wish that.

But she was looking at him with a new light dawning in her face. She looked like she understood. "I also wish," she said, an admission he didn't fully understand. She came to him, slid a hand onto his forearm, and squeezed it. When she offered him a strained smile, he smiled back.

When he reflected on their moment of peace later that evening, sitting beside Zhenya on the bed, Sid justified his actions. He was only getting close to Anna, gaining her trust. He needed her to give him some leeway so he could run. He was being practical.

But none of that explained why he couldn't look on Zhenya's face without feeling guilty.

***

Anna spent a full day looking sideways at Sid after opening up to him about how she came to live in the woods. It seemed like she might be bracing for something, as though she feared showing perceived weakness might prompt Sid to attack her. Instead, he went out of his way to go about his duties without complaint, smiling at her when he caught her staring. Slowly, she relaxed.

The two of them became closer as the winter dragged on and the shortening days grew colder. Anna cracked wry jokes with Sid easily, without a wary look afterward to gauge his thoughts. Each time he laughed with her, it felt like a betrayal against Zhenya. His assurances about gaining her trust solely to find an escape stretched until they were thin and frayed.

It was a few weeks into his captivity before Anna let Sid out of the cabin. He had taken to performing calisthenics on the floor to keep his strength up, pacing the hall for hours to expend his pent-up energy. Sid wasn't aware that his actions were making Anna crazy until the day she snapped. He was trotting in place in front of the window, working himself like a horse in need of a run, when the front door banged open and startled him.

"Go," Anna said. She was in her rocking chair with her long fingers working the sides of her head. For a surreal moment, Sid thought she was setting him free.

He would later worry about his own sense of sanity when he didn't immediately bolt. Instead, he stood gaping at her. "What?"

"Go, get out. You make me crazy. Go outside and run."

Sid's eyes turned to the door. He was a strong runner. With a little luck, he could make the journey down the mountain in the remaining daylight. And yet, he hesitated.

Anna's voice clarified before any one of his tumultuous emotions could win the wrestling match inside him. "Don't go into trees. I will know."

So he wasn't free. Sid's hope surrendered its war against his guilt and slunk away even as he moved toward the door. If he couldn't go home, it would at least be good to get some sunlight on his skin.

After the first successful excursion outdoors, Anna opened up the whole clearing for Sid to explore. He could venture right up to the tree line, which gave him a good space to work with. Anna put him to work outside, too, gathering well water and beating rugs.

On a warmer day, seeking exercise, Sid took it upon himself to replenish the woodpile. It had grown short during their freezing days. He had seen the servants in the kingdom breaking wood with an ax. How hard could it be?

Anna appeared at the back door as his fourth unsuccessful attempt sent the distressingly whole log flying away from his blow. He could see amusement painting her face and pulling at her mouth as she leaned against the doorframe to watch him. 

"Come to give me pointers?" Sid called, panting from the effort as he chased down the log and set it upright to try again.

"No, you're doing good," Anna replied with laughter in every word.

Sid swung. The log tipped to the side and rolled away. "Don't you have a spell that can do this?"

She watched him set the log up again, smiling, and waited for him to swing before she answered, "Yes, of course."

This time, the ax hit the mark, and the log split cleanly in two. Sid pumped a fist and celebrated like he had scored a goal in the weekend game. Anna clapped for him without sarcasm.

"Very good," she said warmly, descending the steps. She caught Sid off-guard with arms around his shoulders in a brief hug. "Thank you."

Sid felt his face heating up from the soft contact of her breasts against his chest. "It was just one. You probably want to do the spell for the rest. We'll freeze if you wait for me."

Anna rested her hands on Sid's forearms and gazed into his eyes. She smiled beatifically, cocked her head to the side so that her hair cascaded down over her shoulder, and said, "No. You do it fine."

Sid laughed at her smirking cruelty when she picked up his freshly-cut piece of wood and sauntered back inside.

When Sid returned inside, he found a hot bath waiting for him in the washroom, undoubtedly a product of magic. He gratefully took the gift of warmth against his muscles, sore from the unfamiliar action of chopping. He luxuriated in the water with his eyes closed and stayed until the skin of his fingertips wrinkled up like dehydrated fruit. Then he exited and dried himself and dressed in the clothes Anna had given him.

He heard Anna speaking when he exited the washroom. She spoke her own language, the one she used only when talking to Zhenya's lifeless body. She did it often, talked to Zhenya, even though he couldn't answer. Her words always seemed affectionate, warm, though Sid didn't see how she could feel fond of a man she had sunk into an eternal sleep.

Sid should hate her. He _wanted_ to hate her. And yet—he peeked inside the door and found her holding Zhenya's hand, the same way Sid sometimes did. The stone feel of Zhenya's skin brought Sid no comfort, but he wanted Zhenya to know he was there. She slept with Zhenya, still, beside him in the bed.

"Do you think you'll wake him up?" Sid asked before he thought, perhaps growing too comfortable with his captor.

Anna smiled down at Zhenya, but her eyes stayed somber. "Why? I don't need."

"You don't miss him?"

She touched Zhenya's cheek tenderly. "How can I miss him? He is here."

"You know what I mean. You don't miss talking to him?"

"For talking, I have handsome prince. I don't need Zhenya."

Her words came out fond and warm like she was doing nothing more than teasing Zhenya, the same way she did with Sid when he failed to chop wood. Not for the first time, Sid wondered if she even understood the gravity of what she had done to her husband.

"You don't miss him for anything?" Sid pressed, hoping to plant the seed that would grow into her releasing Zhenya from his curse.

Anna tossed her hair and looked back over her shoulder. Her eyes roamed up and down Sid's body before she shrugged. "Maybe one thing."

Sid retreated after that, but the feel of her hot gaze followed him.

That night, Sid's bedroom door fell open just as he began to doze off. His heart jumped immediately into a fast beat when Anna padded into the room and to his bed. He could tell by her silhouette she was naked. She put a knee on the bed and folded to sit beside him, then reached out to touch his chest.

Before Sid's whirring mind could produce anything to say, she leaned down and kissed him. A burst of conflicted emotion paralyzed Sid from acting, resulting in him doing nothing more than lying there, not kissing her back or retreating from her.

"Sid," she said when she sat back after failing to engage him in kissing. She sounded unbearably vulnerable, as though she feared his rejection. "Come on."

"I don't understand," Sid said under the avalanche of his tumbling thoughts.

"You don't want me?"

Of course, he wanted her. She was undoubtedly magicked to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Anyone would want her.

But his circling logic kept coming back to the same hang-up, which he voiced when he said, "What about Zhenya?"

"He's asleep," she said simply, intentionally missing the point. "Do good, or I make you also sleep."

Her voice was teasing, but Sid wasn't sure it was totally a joke. He could be useful to her, or she would have no reason to keep him awake. And if he wasn't awake, he couldn't get out. He couldn't come back with his army and save Zhenya, which was ultimately his goal. He could do this and remain loyal to Zhenya.

With guilt clogging up his throat, Sid reared up and pulled her down to kiss her.

***

For days, Sid avoided Zhenya, averting his eyes when he had to walk past the room where he lay. His mouth felt dry. Noises echoed hollowly in his ears. What had he done?

Nevertheless, he hid his guilt from Anna, who seemed delighted with their new arrangement. She became shameless, walking around the house in the nude, spreading her legs at the kitchen table to invite him between them after breakfast. He couldn't deny he felt a heady rush of pleasure when he got his mouth on her. She guided him with fingers sunk into his hair and sent spikes of tingly pleasure down his back with every pull.

Despite his reservations, Sid grew hard with want for her at a moment's notice, walking around with a bulge in his trousers until she beckoned. When he entered her, he could think of nothing but the warm blanket of pleasure wrapping his body. He couldn't pretend it was entirely about keeping her happy so he could plan his escape, not when he found his release so sweetly in her arms.

They came together everywhere in the house—and outside it—except for Zhenya and Anna's room. Sid drew that line from the start, pulling her with him to his room instead when she tried to tempt him to bed with her. It sickened him to think she might actually sleep with him with Zhenya in the room, though his guilty conscience knew it wasn't so different from doing it down the hall. His mind raced as he lay her on the bed and lowered himself into the cradle of her thighs. Everything felt impossibly complicated now. He had allowed the lines to get blurry. When he looked down at Anna, he didn't see a witch. He saw the beautiful woman he wanted to sleep with.

When Anna smiled up at him and cupped his cheek, the buzzing beehive of his mind calmed. It felt right to guide himself inside her, to chase his pleasure with her. For a little while, when it was just the two of them in bed together, nothing seemed complicated at all.

But the reprieve was always brief. When they were done, she kissed him on the cheek and returned to her own room—the room she shared with Zhenya—and Sid's cycle of torment began anew. He lay awake most nights struggling with himself. His days of avoiding Zhenya's sleeping presence stretched into weeks.

It wasn't until Anna went hunting that Sid found the courage to return to Zhenya's side. He woke in the morning to find her getting dressed, wrapping herself in warm clothes to venture outside. She smiled when she saw him.

"Good morning, my prince. I think you will sleep all day."

Sid tried to grin through the guilt of why he had stayed up so late. He had been happily wedged between her thighs, licking her cunt until her wetness ran down his chin. She had been in no hurry, so he stayed there as long as he liked coaxing her to peak with his fingers inside her before he thought of his own pleasure.

Anna crossed the room while he remembered and craned up to kiss him. "I'm going to get us dinner. What do you want? I think maybe boar."

"Sure, boar sounds good," he said, fingers slipping away from her when she went to get her cloak. "You know. I could go with you. Help. I'm a pretty good shot."

Anna's hands slowly stopped moving. She went still long before she looked at him and offered an unreadable, almost painful grin. "I don't need help or shot. I have better than that."

"The dragon?"

Her expression hardened as it always did when he brought up the creature. She rarely spoke about it and had never shown him her pet. He didn't even know where it lived other than close by, for it always came when she called. "Yes, I have dragon. And you will only run away."

A sharp stab of guilt cut through Sid. She wasn't far off the mark. If she allowed him down the mountain, anywhere near a means of escape, he couldn't pass it up. Clouded as his thoughts might be with the complicated situation, he was still a prisoner—something Anna starkly reminded him of when she left the cabin and abruptly shuttered all the doors and windows.

Outside, Sid heard the beat of enormous wings and knew that the dragon had arrived. He strained to listen while it flapped hard to get airborne until the sound disappeared into the distance.

In the silence of Anna's absence, Sid wandered the cottage. She could be gone for a long time, riding her dragon across the mountains and down into the kingdom. Now that he had gotten used to being allowed outside, the prospect of being trapped indoors for the day seemed unbearable.

Sid spent the first little while breaking his fast with a piece of bread from the kitchen. When that was done, he stoked the fire in the den and did some calisthenics in the flickering light. Then he was sweaty, so he took to the washroom to rub away the result of the exertion.

The washroom was right across the hall from the bedroom where Zhenya slept. As Sid exited, he found himself stopped in front of Zhenya's door. It had been weeks since he visited, mounting guilt rising like bile in his throat. Anna had said in the beginning that Zhenya might be able to hear him in his dreams. He might know that Sid had not come to see him. He might even know _why_.

The thought made Sid shudder with horror. Anna talked to Zhenya all the time. She had likely told him what she was doing with Sid while Zhenya slept. What must Zhenya think now that Sid had stopped visiting him?

Guiltily, Sid put his hand on the door and pushed it open. He approached the bed in halting steps and sat beside Zhenya's unmoving body. When he touched Zhenya's hand, he did it carefully, as though he feared rebuff.

"Hi Zhenya. Sorry, it's been—"

Sid's words were cut off when a suffocating ball of emotion lodged in his throat. His memory conjured thoughts of months ago, back in the palace. He had been lying on his bed with Zhenya naked beside him, feeding him bites of apple while they reveled in the soreness of hockey and sex. He remembered Zhenya's eyes, bright with laughter. When he looked upon Zhenya's permanently closed eyelids, the stark contrast broke him. Zhenya's porcelain face blurred before his eyes, distorted through the tears overwhelming Sid's vision.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, his voice no more than a rough whisper. When Zhenya offered nothing in response, Sid wiped irritably at his eyes and shook his head. He hated to give up, but the situation looked grim. Anna was seemingly happy to replace Zhenya with Sid and keep him there in the cabin forever. "I don't know what to do now," he admitted to both himself and Zhenya.

Nothing in the room offered solace or solution. Sid held onto Zhenya's hand until it grew warm with his touch. He could almost fool himself into thinking it felt like skin beneath his, living flesh.

When Sid's head grew too heavy with despair to hold up, he moved to lay down beside Zhenya. He stretched out along the length of Zhenya's still body and cupped his hand once more around Zhenya's porcelain fingers. He fell asleep there, aching with guilt and vague want for impossible things.

***

Sid awoke on his back with Anna just coming to rest on his hips, straddling him like a horse. She smiled down at him when he looked, eyes bright and amused. "Here you are. I think you run away when I come back, not see you."

Anna shifted her hips so he could feel the heat of her pussy along his cock. It stirred with interest, which made his stomach turn with the sudden realization—he was still next to Zhenya, still _touching_ Zhenya with his shoulder.

"I bring you back a boar, like you want," Anna continued, rocking against his dick with a smug grin. "We will make a good dinner. Let's make sure we're very hungry first."

Anna bit her lip mischievously and leaned down for a kiss. "Wait," Sid said, turning to dodge her mouth.

"Wait for what?" Anna asked, laughing as she kissed his cheek instead.

For the first time, Sid truly said no. He reached for her shoulders and pushed her back. "I can't. Not here."

"It feel like you can," she said, eyebrow up, again shifting against his stirring cock.

Sid darted a look at Zhenya. He would do a lot to keep Anna happy, but this went too far. He felt like he might throw up.

"Oh, I see. You worry about Zhenya. Fine," Anna sighed. Sid's body flooded with relief that she would stop, back down.

Anna didn't move from her seat on Sid's hips. Instead, she leaned one hand on his chest and craned forward, reaching the other hand out to tap Zhenya's forehead.

The shoulder pressed to Sid’s _moved_. Zhenya's voice, rough from sleep, said something in his native language to Anna. She spoke sharply back, eyes sparkling with mischief. Zhenya propped himself up on an elbow to look at Sid, mouth gaping. He looked suddenly, immensely guilty.

"Sid—"

Anna spoke again, sharp syllables cracking off her tongue. She gestured between Zhenya and Sid, then swung off Sid's hips and off the bed to shimmy out of her clothes.

Zhenya didn't move like a man who had been asleep for half of the winter. He shuffled close to Sid with hangdog eyes and said softly, "We should kiss. She want watch."

Sid opened his mouth to speak but only managed to force an indistinct sound out. It was so unexpected to suddenly have Zhenya in front of him, alive, asking him for a kiss.

At Sid's reaction, Zhenya cringed and looked away from his face. "You don't want, I know. I'm sorry."

Zhenya's remorse reminded Sid he had a lot to be peeved about. Zhenya hadn't told him he was married, certainly hadn't mentioned a witch. And he had disappeared so abruptly after making Sid fall in love with him.

But fresh as the ordeal seemed for Zhenya, it had all happened weeks ago for Sid—near two months. Time had done its healing work on whatever anger he might have started with and left him bare of anything but the desire to hold Zhenya again. Sid swallowed back the wave of emotion in his throat and touched Zhenya's face. The cheek under his palm was warm and lightly stubbled—alive. Sid felt like he might cry for the elation of it when he guided his mouth to Zhenya's.

Anna made a joyful humming sound from the side of the bed. Sid felt the bedding move when she rejoined them, nude as her birthday. Sid was only distantly aware of her, his mind acutely focused on Zhenya's mouth moving against his.

"Okay, your highness? You can do it now?" Anna asked, impatient and sarcastic.

Sid could barely force his mouth away from Zhenya's to look him over, questioning whether he should put up a fight. Zhenya stroked his thumb back and forth on Sid's hip, looking so relieved after their kiss.

"You want?" Zhenya asked low. Sid figured they had about one more private moment between them before Anna grew intolerant. He nodded, leaned in for another peck from Zhenya, and then reached for Anna.

"Well. Come on," Sid said. His voice broke and revealed his peaking emotions, but he thought he got away with a semblance of nonchalance. Anna smiled at him and crawled her way between them. Lying with her back to Zhenya, she craned up to kiss Sid.

"I want your mouth," Anna said, dragging her lips across Sid's cheek to his ear. She bit down on the lobe. "Let Zhenya see how good you are to me."

Sid darted a look over her shoulder to gauge Zhenya's approval and found him staring back in wide-eyed eagerness. "That sound good to you?"

Anna's nip against his jaw was sharper—a punishment for asking Zhenya's opinion, Sid guessed. She pushed against his shoulder to get him moving and shuffled onto her back. Her endlessly long legs spread easily for him to fit between. He settled there in the cradle of her thighs and put his mouth on her.

While Sid got to work, Anna started talking. She spoke exclusively in her own language, sounding smug and fulfilled. Zhenya answered her a lot, one or two-word responses. Sid couldn't imagine what she was saying—describing what Sid was doing to her, perhaps?

When Sid slid two fingers inside, he caught motion in his vision and just saw her grab Zhenya by the chin to pull him into a rough kiss. Her words descended into moans against Zhenya's mouth while she rolled her hips and worked her clit against Sid's tongue.

Anna came with her hand clenched hard in Sid's hair, pressing Sid's mouth to her while she rocked against his tongue. The nails of her other hand dug visibly into Zhenya's forearm.

When Anna loosened her grip, Sid lifted his head and popped a crick out of his neck before he bear-walked himself on top of Anna. He didn't look at her for approval before he lurched over and kissed Zhenya with the taste of her on his tongue. The sound Zhenya made—aroused and pleased and so very grateful. Sid felt giddy with the possibilities.

Anna kicked Sid in the butt to let him know he'd been playing with Zhenya too long. Sid's vision of what could be grew painfully bright—demanding Anna putting them both around her fingers. It wouldn't feel at all like captivity anymore, not with Zhenya there with him.

"Sid, come," Anna complained, kicking him again. He nestled his hips between her thighs and dragged the shaft of his cock along her slit.

"That what you want?" Sid asked.

"Smug," she accused with a sharp tongue. Zhenya chuckled.

"You say it's been so many weeks, you only just learn this?" Zhenya teased.

"Hush," Anna said. She smiled, but her smile was cruel. "Be quiet there and watch. You can see your boy when he is inside me."

A flicker of doubt crossed Sid's mind. He wasn't sure he liked the idea of being used to torment Zhenya. "What if you let Zhenya do it?" he asked, bending to suck on her nipple in hopes of influencing her decision.

Anna's laugh said no before she uttered the word. "I wake him up so you stop whining, not so he can do whatever. You put it in me. Zhenya only watch."

Sid nodded tightly with an apologetic grimace at Zhenya. Zhenya didn't look like he minded. He flopped back against the headboard and wrapped a hand around his cock, eyes eagerly locked on Sid's dick between his wife's splayed legs.

With Zhenya's approval secured, Sid pulled back and rubbed the head of his dick along her wet opening before pushing himself inside her. Zhenya said a word in his language, sounding awed, and started moving his hand up and down his shaft.

"This gets you hot?" Sid asked, trying to tease but coming up sounding as overwhelmed as he felt.

Zhenya nodded. His dick looked rigid and ready. Sid wanted to get it in his mouth and taste Zhenya's release, but it didn't look like Zhenya would hold out that long.

"Ease off, there," Sid panted. "If you hold off, I'll suck you."

"No, I'm close," Zhenya said. His breath was shuddery and desperate. It was certainly over for him.

Except, Anna snapped her fingers, and suddenly Zhenya's hands were clasped behind his back. His dick stood desperate, and he cried out in his language. When Sid looked at Anna, she gave a remorseless shrug.

"Maybe if you do me good, you can suck him after," she said slyly. So clearly, it was not a gift but a bribe.

"Sid," Zhenya said, pleading.

With that kind of motivation, Sid really put his back into it.

Anna came on his cock with her back arching off the bed, and Sid heard Zhenya's audible sigh of relief. It would be enough, he thought. She would let Sid suck him.

Sure enough, Sid eased himself out rock hard and on the verge, and Anna only moved enough to get comfortable, propping her head on her hand to watch as Sid got his mouth on Zhenya. His hands were still bound behind his back by magic, but Sid was not about to ask her for anything else. He sucked Zhenya down before she changed her mind and went straight to work.

The flood of Zhenya's release in his mouth tipped Sid over, suckling Zhenya's cockhead aimlessly while he pumped his own release onto the bed without a care. The nice thing about sleeping with a witch, he had learned—there was never a wet spot. She would clean up with a wave, so he never had to worry.

Zhenya's hand moved to cup Sid's cheek. His thumb moved along the corner of his mouth, brushing the head of his dick where it still nestled between Sid's lips. When Sid pulled up to grin at him, Zhenya smiled back. For the first time since arriving at the cabin, Sid felt entirely hopeful about where things were going.

His hope was abruptly cut down when Anna fumbled up and touched Zhenya's forehead. "No!" Sid cried, but it was too late. Zhenya slumped onto the bed as he had been before. His thighs bracketing Sid's body were cold and hard where they had just been warm and welcoming. Sid recoiled instinctively, turning his eyes from Zhenya's dead ones fixed on the ceiling. "Why did you do that?" he cried.

"Oh, don't be a baby," Anna muttered, turning her face to peer at him through her hair. "He's okay. You see now. I can wake him up anytime."

“Then wake him up _now_.”

Anna's eyes narrowed at him. "Why?"

Sid's mind spun in a panic, searching for words. "Don't you want to see him? Talk to him?"

"I can be patient," Anna said with a shrug. "I wait one hundred years, what is it to me? Nothing."

Sid felt the return of burning in his eyes with the force of his frustration. "So that's it? We're just—toys to you."

"Yes, my favorite toys," Anna said, writhing in the bed. But when she looked at him, her smirk dissolved. She levered herself up and knee-walked over to him, nudging Zhenya's leg out of her way as she went. She loosely looped her arms around Sid's neck. "I'm joking. You're not toys."

"So we're what? Pets?"

" _You_ are my handsome prince, and Zhenya is my darling husband. You make me very happy."

"How can you say that?"

"Because it is true. You don't believe me?"

Sid's gaze wandered to Zhenya's glass eyes. A shudder went through him. "I just don't understand how you can do this to him."

A bolt of anger flashed across Anna's face before she smoothed it away. "He is still in trouble."

"For what? Sleeping with me? You're doing the same thing now. Can't you just—share?"

Anna's eyebrows twitched up and her mouth pulled with a curious smile. "Share, hmm?"

Sid held his breath while she considered.

"I'll think about it. Good night, Sid."

It was a dismissal. Sid slunk off the bed and out of the room. The buoyant hope he had felt on seeing Zhenya alive and moving again sunk into more profound a despair than he had previously thought possible.

***

Sid spent the night awake in his bed, as was becoming his habit. He had been so hopeful that Anna would allow Zhenya to remain conscious. He had thought he was gaining her trust.

Feelings of hurt and anger wrestled with guilt inside Sid. He knew he should leave, double down on his efforts to flee, and return with his army as he had originally planned. But the only way Anna was going down was if they killed her, and Sid no longer had that option inside him. He had seen too much of her sense of humor, her goodness. He had seen her conjure food for the woodland animals. She had even somehow befriended a dragon.

She wasn't all bad, but her treatment of Zhenya was intolerable. Sid didn't think he would be able to live with himself if she started consistently waking Zhenya up for sex and then putting him back down. Bedding Anna was bad enough, but to use Zhenya like that would break him.

Sid had just begun to doze in the hazy light of morning when he heard Anna start to move around the cabin. Footsteps approached his door and stopped just outside. He held his breath, hoping she wouldn't open the door. He wasn't ready to face her yet—certainly wasn't prepared to fan the flame of her lust for him.

The latch moved. The door swung open. Sid kept his eyes closed, feigning sleep while the steps grew closer.

"Sid?"

Sid jerked. The voice wasn't Anna's—it was Zhenya's. Sure enough, when he opened his eyes, Zhenya was hovering there looking sheepish. "Zhenya?"

"Anna wake me up. She tell me to come here to new room. She say to tell you she can share."

Sid scrambled up to his knees and dragged Zhenya close to kiss him. All thought of escape flapped away like butterflies on the wind.

"I'm sorry," Zhenya said against Sid's mouth. "I should say before, about Anna."

"It doesn't matter," Sid said, which wasn't exactly what he meant. It mattered—of course, it _mattered_ —but Sid was long past the point where he had decided to forgive Zhenya for his deception. And now, blessedly, so had Anna. There was so much hope now it expanded within him and pushed any remaining bitterness out. "It's okay now. Everything is good."

Sid could feel Zhenya's relieved smile against his mouth. "Yes, everything is good."

Zhenya yielded to Sid's demanding hands pulling him into the bed where they could lay together. Zhenya's eyes were dark and alive, banishing the haunting memory of his glassy gaze locked on the ceiling, trapped in his porcelain body.

Sid touched Zhenya everywhere he could reach, kissing down his throat and running a hand up his shirt to further shake the awful memory. His skin tasted and smelled so clean—free of sweat or fragrance. It was as though he had been plucked, shiny and new, and placed in the bed with Sid without any influence on him. Sid felt the territorial urge to rub against him, to mark Zhenya with his own scent.

"What can we do?" Sid asked, breathless as he set his teeth against Zhenya's throat and followed with a tender kiss.

Zhenya took the hand that was busy playing with his nipples and pushed it down, out of his shirt and over the bulge of his crotch. He was taking an interest. "Touch."

Sid shimmied back and straddled Zhenya's thighs to get his trousers down. He spat in his hand and put it around Zhenya's rising dick. It was warm and alive, and Zhenya squirmed under him. "I missed you so much," Sid said. He could hear the drag of heavy emotion on his voice, and he was sure Zhenya perceived it, too.

Instead of teasing Sid or asking if he might cry, Zhenya sat up, cupped his hand around the back of Sid's neck, and pressed their foreheads together. "I don't miss you," he said with a smile to hold off any perceived venom in the words. "I can hear you. Every day, you talk to me. You says such sweet thing. I wish you wake up. I want you. I love you."

Sid shut his eyes on the last one. It was unbearable to want something so much, and he felt on the cusp of having it. He redoubled his efforts on Zhenya's dick, determined to connect with him. Zhenya clearly felt the same because he pulled at Sid's clothes until he could get his hand around Sid's dick and touch him the same way.

Zhenya came with a sigh against Sid's mouth. Most of his release coated Sid's palm, which gave him an idea. He pushed back on Zhenya, lay him against the mattress, and got a hand on himself. He pumped himself to completion, speckling Zhenya's soft stomach with his seed. The primal part of him that had wanted to mark Zhenya felt sated.

They lay together afterward trading soft, lazy kisses. Zhenya was the first to bounce back, finding ways to tease while Sid was still in awe of his presence.

"Anna tells me you come look for me," Zhenya said with a smile pulling at his mouth. His hand was cupped around Sid's jawline, and his thumb stroked along Sid's cheek, a tender touch to contrast his mockery. "You miss me so much, huh?"

"I did," Sid said. It was the truth, and Zhenya could tell, but Sid felt the need to mount a counteroffensive against Zhenya's teasing. "But also—her big pet broke my ice rink, so it was mostly that."

"Big pet?"

"The dragon. She sent it down to wreck the Saturday game when she discovered the truth about us. I guess she figured it was hockey's fault we found each other."

"No, dragon is not pet," Zhenya said before a voice at the door interrupted them.

"Breakfast is ready," Anna announced. She hovered in the doorway, looking a little uncertain as she watched Sid and Zhenya in bed together.

Sid levered himself up and went to her. He grasped her hand and—with only a little glance for Zhenya's approval—leaned in to kiss her. "Thank you."

Anna's expression softened and opened like a flower blooming from a tight, closed bud. "Well. You make such a fuss." She patted him on the cheek with a gentle smile. "Now, come eat."

"Yes, I'm starve," Zhenya piped up. He pecked Anna on the cheek as he passed them and called over his shoulder, "Two month since I eat anything!"

Sid watched Anna's smile take on a new hue, a brightness previously unseen in her squinched up eyes. He should have known it before, been able to tell by the ways she spoke, but it was evident in her smile—she absolutely loved Zhenya.

The cabin felt all new with the addition of Zhenya's lively presence inside it. He clowned with them over the table, slyly bullying Anna until she conjured him a cup of coffee with her lips tightly pursed to resist a smile.

"This how you know she not mad anymore," Zhenya said to Sid with a wink. Sid cut a look at Anna to see what she thought of the overt reference to her anger. He found her glaring playfully.

"Careful," she said with a half-hearted attempt to glare. "Maybe I get mad again. Make you sleep in snow this time."

Zhenya's brash grin ended in a sip of coffee. He seemed utterly unconcerned, convinced that she had forgiven him. He was confident he would be awake with them for however long Sid stayed.

As he watched Zhenya tease and laugh and brighten the room with his presence, it hit Sid that not a single part of him wanted Anna to let him leave. She could open the door and provide him a horse, and he would stay rooted to the spot. He paused his chewing with the realization and caught Anna looking at him, pensive. Understanding seemed to dawn in her eyes as she studied him, as though she could read his thoughts. Maybe she could—he wasn't sure what the limits of her power might be.

Zhenya buzzed around the cabin until his boundless energy threatened to explode through the walls, then suggested fishing. "It not too cold out," he said, eyes big and pleading at Sid to go with him. "We can go to little bend in river. Where the water is fast. It won't freeze there."

"Oh, uh. I don't know if I can," Sid said, eyes searching for Anna. He had never seen a river, so he knew it must be outside of the clearing, beyond the boundaries she had set for him.

"Don't be silly. Of course you can go," she said in a matter-of-fact tone like Sid should know. "You have nice warm hat in drawer. It's no problem."

Sid cocked his head. He thought he understood her words, that she was loosening his tether, but he wanted to be sure. "I didn't think the hat was the issue."

"Hush, now," Anna scolded, but her smile said she knew he wouldn't run. She knew he didn't want to. "Go get dressed."

"Come with us, warden. Otherwise, you never know what might happen. What if we don't come back?" Sid winked, stretching his boundaries of what he could tease her about, and dodged the little stream of sparks she conjured to throw at him on his way back to his room.

Anna did go with them, though Sid felt confident she had no worries about either of them disappearing. She simply wanted to be with them, to watch Zhenya and Sid cast their lines while subtly nudging at the fish with her magic to bring the largest ones closer.

"Get trout next," Zhenya demanded of her when she had coaxed in three salmon in a row.

"I thought you like salmon," she protested, but Sid watched her search the water with her magic. Sure enough, the next bite was a trout.

They returned to the cabin as the sun began to sink and cooked together, moving around each other in the kitchen in a comfortable rhythm. Zhenya watched Sid's now-expert chopping and cooking skills with an unmistakable air of amusement.

"No fancy cook now, huh?" Zhenya asked, hooking his chin over Sid's shoulder to watch his hands work. "Poor prince have to work. So mean, Anya."

Sid grinned down at his chopped greens. Zhenya's teasing ran like refreshing water over his skin. "It tastes better this way, after working for it."

"You like to work for it," Zhenya said low next to his ear, overtly flirting in front of his wife—who, by her appreciative glance, didn't mind. Zhenya's breath was hot against Sid's neck where he nipped him, hands sliding around and down his front. "Maybe you also like to work other ways?"

Sid threw a playful elbow to dislodge him. "You get hot watching me chop kale?"

"Why not?" Anna said. "You both get hot playing hockey."

After a brief glance to make sure he was clear to joke about the subject, Sid replied, "Well, yeah, but that makes sense. Cooking isn't sexy."

Anna snorted, but he could see her amusement in the curve of her mouth.

When they were finished cooking—mostly because Sid and Anna managed to dodge around Zhenya enough to work—they ate together at the table in the glow of candlelight. The fish was fresh and delicious. Zhenya and Anna glowed, looking unbearably intimate as they exchanged glances over their plate. Sid thought he knew what the significant glances meant. They would retire together, reunite as man and wife. It was fair. Anna had given Sid the gift of that morning—he could do the same for her. After all, she was more entitled to Zhenya's time than he was.

Only, when Sid started for his room after supper to give them time together, Zhenya's hand wrapped around his wrist to stop him. He looked baffled by Sid's attempt to retreat, head cocked curiously before he nodded at his and Anna's bedroom. "Come."

Sid followed his pull without resistance and through the door, heart pounding. His thoughts raced with questions—were they sleeping together, all three of them? Was he meant to get them off and leave?

In a bolt of cold fear, he worried that Anna might knock Zhenya out again. His mind conjured gut-churning images of Zhenya's dead eyes when he ventured to glance toward the bed. "Zhenya—" he started, planting his feet to free himself from Zhenya's grasp.

A soft hand slid up Sid's back. Despite his worries, his tense muscles came loose under Anna's hand. When she came around him, she squeezed his arm. Her smile was full of meaning before she pressed it to his ear with whispered words. "Don't worry."

And as though her voice had banished his demons, his worries flew away. When he looked to the bed again, he saw only opportunity and promise. He reached to regain his grip on Zhenya's hand. Zhenya squeezed lightly—another reassurance—before he continued leading Sid to the bed.

Zhenya perched on the edge of the bed where Sid could stand between his thighs and bend down to kiss him. His hands found balance on Zhenya's shoulders, which hadn't lost any of their strength in his slumber. They were firm and sturdy, easily taking the weight of Sid's distracted leaning while he took both comfort and pleasure in Zhenya's mouth. It was still so much a relief to have Zhenya's warm breath exhaling against him, his tongue flat and wet against Sid's.

Meanwhile, Anna had stripped out of her clothes and made her way onto the bed to sit behind Zhenya. Sid became aware of her when she slipped her long legs around Zhenya to bracket his own where they were spread against the mattress, Sid between them. She looped her arms around Zhenya's torso, and for a moment, Sid thought she might cling to him, hug her husband sweetly while he kissed Sid. But the mystery of her actions resolved more predictably when she tucked her fingertips into the waistband of Sid's trousers and fumbled blindly toward the front for the tie.

When Anna's exploring fingers tickled a spot that made Sid twitch and laugh, Zhenya broke away to take stock of the situation. His large hands covered Anna's entirely when he grasped them. "Stop, let him think," he scolded, removing her touch before she could come close to stripping off Sid's trousers.

"You do it, then," Anna said with a pout in her voice. Sid could see her, mouth pressed against Zhenya's shoulder, eyes squinched with good humor where she peered up at Sid through her hair.

It was good that Zhenya's sigh and exasperated glance were exaggerated. Sid didn't think any man should feel burdened with a naked woman draped along his back demanding that he undress his lover—a position Sid would gladly trade for if Zhenya genuinely felt so put-upon.

"Need a hand?" Sid asked, teasing Zhenya with fingers brushing through his hair. "You were asleep a long time. Maybe you forgot how this all works."

Zhenya's glare fought with his smile at the gentle ribbing, but he clearly knew how to take his revenge. "Maybe I forget," he agreed, leaning forward as he rucked up Sid's shirt. He set his teeth against Sid's stomach and made him jerk again when it tickled. Before he could protest, Zhenya found his nipple with a thumb and circled it. "I don't know what you like now."

Sid's breath caught from the jolt of tingling pleasure centered on his nipple. He knew Zhenya probably looked smug and full of himself about Sid's cut off groan, but he was too busy taking his shirt the rest of the way off to check. Zhenya's hands moved on to Sid's pants, working diligently to obey Anna's wishes and get him naked. Sid returned the gesture and started pulling Zhenya's shirt off.

When they were all nude, Anna scooted back to make room for them to join her on the bed. Zhenya turned to prowl after her, propping himself atop her body. Sid watched them kiss, struck by how unafraid Zhenya appeared to be of Anna. She could turn him into a lifeless doll with a touch, but he cupped his hand around her breast without any hesitation. It was exactly as Anna said—Zhenya wasn't her prisoner. He most certainly loved her.

"Don't stare, come," Anna ordered. She and Zhenya were both looking at him, watching him kneeling on the edge of the bed, transfixed by the beauty of them together.

Zhenya struck, moving away from Anna to tackle Sid to the bed instead. He slotted a knee between Sid's and blatantly rubbed his arousal against Sid's thigh while they kissed.

Sid felt when Anna tapped the inside of his other thigh. Sid moved it without much thought, spreading his legs apart. He wondered if she might use the added room to touch his balls or lower. Instead, she swung a leg over Sid's thigh and, like Zhenya, lowered to sit. He angled his knee up to help her as the wetness of her pussy left trails along his skin while Zhenya's hot dick rubbed against him.

"You like it?" Zhenya asked, pulling back from Sid. Sid almost exclaimed—fucking _obviously_ he liked it—but he realized Zhenya was speaking to Anna, sitting up to cup his hands around her face and kiss her. "You want him?"

She said something in their language that made Zhenya's eyebrows jump with surprise and interest. He murmured something back and moved. Sid reached for him, clutching futilely at Zhenya's knee to keep him from going, but Zhenya only shushed him.

"It's okay, you like it," Zhenya assured, knee walking around to get between Sid's legs behind Anna. His huge hands closed on her waist, lifting her easily from Sid's thigh to straddle his hips.

Anna shifted around until Sid's cock found the wet heat of her pussy, sliding herself along his shaft. She said something back to Zhenya, and he shuffled closer on his knees. Zhenya wrapped his arms around Anna as she had done for him earlier and reached between her legs. One of Zhenya's hands wrapped around Sid's cock and squeezed gently, a private check-in with him. Sid nodded eagerly—he wanted anything.

Zhenya guided the head of Sid's cock along Anna's folds, careful not to let him dip too far inside. Sid could feel him circling the fingers of his other hand around Anna's clit. Her hips rocked with the rhythm Zhenya created, and she craned her head back until it rested on Zhenya's shoulder. She said something to him, the sharp sounds of their language softened by pleasure and affection. When Zhenya spoke back, he also sounded fond.

"Okay," Zhenya said, the only English warning he gave before he lined Sid's cock up and guided it inside Anna. She was wet—really wet—and Sid slipped in so easily.

Anna leaned forward and hovered her mouth over Sid's, but she didn't kiss him. She rocked on his cock, angling her hips to rub herself against him, but the motion wasn't nearly enough to get him off.

Zhenya touched the base of Sid's cock and slid down to his balls to cup them gently. Sid's hips twitched for more than a tease. He got it when Zhenya knee-walked forward and started rubbing the head of his dick against Sid's cock and Anna's pussy. Sid craned to look over Anna's shoulder and saw Zhenya looking down, concentrating on what he was doing.

Sid started to ask, "Are you—"

"Shh," Anna said before she sealed her lips against Sid's. While they were kissing, Zhenya pushed his cock inside Anna's pussy alongside Sid.

It was a lot after that. Sid felt pinned to the bed, afraid to move and accidentally slip out. Instead, he held himself still and let Zhenya do the work of thrusting. The hard heat of Zhenya's cock gliding against his was like nothing he'd ever experienced. Anna panted in his ear, making little overwhelmed whimpering noises. Wanting to feel useful, Sid put his hand down between them and touched Anna's clit, but she smacked him away.

"No, I can," she said, breath ragged, and he realized she was already on edge. She angled her hips again to rub herself against Sid's skin, kicked her knees out just a little more, and scrunched up her face in concentration.

When Anna came, the contractions of her pussy made Sid grip the sheets not to follow her directly over. Thankfully, he didn't have to feel bad or hold off because Zhenya lost it first. Before Anna finished moaning her pleasure, Zhenya pushed in deep and held still. Sid could feel the pulse of his release all along his cock, and it was all Sid could take. He followed Zhenya into climax, clutching at Anna's shoulders. 

Zhenya eased himself out and collapsed. Anna lurched over to her husband and found his lips like a newborn kitten seeking a teat—mouth first. Then she collapsed with her face buried in a pillow. Sid watched the whole thing with his heart swelling in his chest, full to bursting with affection and hope. When he met Zhenya's eyes, he saw the same well of emotion there. He didn't think he needed to ask whether they wanted him to stay in bed. The answer seemed obvious. Instead of questioning, Sid made himself comfortable on the soft mattress and reached to put his hand on Zhenya's atop the peak of Anna's hip.

***

The weeks after Zhenya woke were some of the happiest of Sid's life. He hardly remembered that he was a captive at all—and wasn't sure whether he even was a prisoner anymore. Anna seemed unconcerned with his comings and goings, interested only in finding him when she wanted company or help with the cooking. She sang soft songs while she did her chores around the house, hips swaying with the melody, as though Zhenya's lively presence had freed her mood as much as Sid's.

As a result of Sid's new freedom, he got to explore the woods for the first time, tagging along behind Zhenya's confident stride on the trail of a rabbit or duck.

"I thought Anna did all the hunting," Sid asked when Zhenya announced that he wanted to go out with his bow.

"Mostly," Zhenya replied with a shrug. "She get big things, but I like to go also. It's fun."

In other words, Zhenya was restless and looking for an activity. Sid wondered if his inability to sit still was usual for him or if it was a lingering effect of his long sleep. Perhaps he had rested too much and now felt incapable. Whatever the reason, he was always looking for something to occupy his hands and feet.

So they went nearly every day, stalking their dinner through the trees. Sid wouldn't call Zhenya a great hunter—their success rate on catching the animal was pretty abysmal. Sid knew he wasn't helping anything. When he got bored between the trees, he had a terrible tendency to get handsy with Zhenya, subtly groping him until he diverted his attention from hunting to pinning Sid against the trunk of a tree and kissing him with frustrated intensity.

After a few days of them failing to bring anything home, Anna made a wry, disapproving sound, shook her head, and said, "I guess I will do it."

"You don't have to," Sid offered. He felt guilty for contributing to their unsuccessful hunts. When he looked, Zhenya smirked in response. He knew precisely who was to blame for their failure. "We could go fishing again."

"No, this is faster," Anna said simply, and the matter was settled.

Sid fully expected Anna to lock him into the house, as she had every time she had left since he'd been captured. But this time, she left the doors and windows open. Sid only realized it when he heard the beat of giant wings taking off and glanced at an open window to see the flash of a black, leathery wing. He jumped up and ran out the door to watch the dragon flap into the sky.

"Beautiful, hmm?" Zhenya asked, joining him. "You see her up close?"

"The dragon? It's a girl?"

Zhenya blinked in surprise, then cocked his head with a growing smile as though he realized something.

"What?" Sid asked.

"You don't see the dragon before," Zhenya said. "You don't know."

"Know what?"

"You see," Zhenya said slyly. "Let's wait for Anna to come back. She can show you."

Sid could see that he wouldn't pry out whatever secret Zhenya wanted to tell him before Anna returned. And he _did_ wish to see the dragon up close, assuming the thing wouldn't eat him. He could be patient. Anna never went hunting for very long.

"Okay, well. What do you want to do while we wait?" Sid asked, letting his interest show in his tone while his eyes wandered over Zhenya's body. Zhenya laughed at him and shook his head.

"You always horny," Zhenya accused, though he didn't look perturbed at all. In fact, he reached for Sid's hand to lead him back inside.

They went to the room where Zhenya had slept, doll-like, for so many weeks. It all seemed like a strange and distant dream, the trauma of it fading into the fog of memory when Sid crawled between Zhenya's legs and rolled their hips together. Every touch of Zhenya's warm skin, each sloppy, wet kiss, further dispelled the previous feelings of horror. Now, Sid only felt happy to be retiring to the bed, writhing around with Zhenya's hands all over him.

Sid positioned them so that they could each get their mouth on the other, lying on their sides with limbs precariously positioned. He nearly had to take the entire weight of one of Zhenya's legs to prop it up, but it was worth it to feel the wet heat of Zhenya's mouth while he worked his own on Zhenya's cock. He even managed to free a hand enough to tease over Zhenya's hole, the final straw in tipping Zhenya over the edge with a mounting groan sending shivers up Sid's body. He pulled himself free of Zhenya's mouth and jerked himself to completion.

After cleaning up—the hazard of engaging in sex without a witch—they returned to the bed boneless and relaxed. They were dozing together, Sid with his head on Zhenya's chest, when he caught the sound of something strange. It sounded like a distant rustling, as though something was coming through the tops of the trees.

A thunderous crash shook the house and roused them out of bed. Sid was still disoriented as he watched Zhenya yank his pants on and bolt for the door, calling, "Anya!"

Sid jolted. The rustling noise above them, the crash. The _dragon_. Sid raced after Zhenya, praying for Anna's safety.

The dragon—shiny black and easily twice the size of the king's fine carriage—lay in a crater by the tree line. It had crashed through the snow and dug up the frozen ground underneath. Some of the trees had been uprooted from the force of the impact. The pitiful creature was trying to find its footing, crying out and writhing against the ground, wings flapping uselessly.

Zhenya was running across the snow to reach the creature. But where was Anna? Sid yanked on his boots and followed Zhenya's progress, craning to see where Anna might have been riding the beast.

The dragon made a high whimpering sound and nosed toward Zhenya. Zhenya spoke to it in his own language as he reached it, his voice soothing and low, and cupped his hands around its nose. Sid kept a little distance, circling to try to see Anna. Instead, he found a sizable gash dripping blood down the creature's wing.

"It's hurt," Sid called to Zhenya.

The dragon made another miserable sound and painfully stretched out its wing. As it unfurled, Sid could see the source of the gash. There was a massive spear through the meat of the wing, lodged just above the joint.

"Well, help her," Zhenya said, apparently translating for the dragon.

Sid cautiously approached the gigantic creature. "Okay, easy, girl. Don't—eat me."

As he spoke, he reached up for the spear and got a good grip with two hands. When he yanked on it, the dragon cried out. The wing twitched forward from the sting and caught Sid. He tumbled backward into the snow, thankfully still holding the spear. He wasn't sure if the dragon would give him another chance to pull at it.

"I got it," Sid called, painfully rolling over onto his hands and knees before pushing himself up to his feet, back toward the dragon. "Now, let's find—"

Sid cut himself off when he turned around and found the dragon gone. Instead, Anna stood where the creature had been, folded into Zhenya's arms with her face in his neck. Her dress was torn at the sleeve. Blood dripped from a gash in her bicep. Watching the fresh wound, spear still in hand, Sid's head spun.

"Oh my god," Sid said. " _You're_ the dragon."

Anna turned toward him with tears in her eyes and glared balefully. When she spoke, it was in her language. Whatever it was made Zhenya respond with what sounded like a gentle rebuke.

"What's wrong?" Sid asked.

" _Your_ people try to kill me," Anna said, sniffing against held back sobs. "I go to hunt deer in the valley. It's only deer—what do these people care? But they come to me with horses. Weapons."

"Farmers?" Sid asked. He was surprised to hear that they would mount such an attack, but perhaps they were tired of losing their livestock to the dragon.

Anna shook her head balefully. "Not farmers." She pulled back from Zhenya, then reached out and waved her hand in a circle. A shimmering, mirror-like surface edged in green light appeared. When Sid approached, he could see down into the valley. He recognized the farms on the edge of his kingdom.

The view shifted and adjusted until it found what Anna had encountered—a sizeable battalion of mounted men camping by the tree line.

"Oh no," Sid said. "The army. They were thinking about this before I left. My sister talked them out of it, but my father must have—"

Sid shut up as the view grew closer. It stopped on the commanding officer's tent. The flap opened. From within strode not Sid's father but his sister.

"Taylor," Sid whispered. She looked hardened, so unlike the sweet girl he had left at the beginning of winter. "She's leading them. She's coming after me. She must think the dragon killed me.”

"I'm dragon, Sid," Anna said forcefully. "They hurt me."

"They just don't know what they're dealing with. They think you're a monster. I came up here to kill a dragon—"

“To kill _me_ ,” Anna snapped. When Zhenya tried to soothe her, she yanked away from him. "You come here to kill me, now they come also. Maybe _you_ are monster."

"Anya," Zhenya tried, but she held up a hand against his words.

"I'm not a monster," Sid said, soothing. "You don't really think that. It was a misunderstanding when I came here. It's the same for Taylor—she doesn't know. Let me go down. I'll show them I'm alive. I'll talk them out of coming up here. They'll have no reason to."

"No," Anna said with a bite of anger, still wiping at her tears. "If they want to fight, I will fight them. I will be ready this time."

With that, she turned on her heel to stalk toward the house. Sid jogged after her and grabbed her uninjured arm. "Anna, you can't—"

Anna's eyes flashed when she spun around on him. “I _can’t_? You want them to kill me?"

"No, of course I don't. But there's another way."

"There is no other way. I know men a long time. When they decide they want war, they will have war. You want to go down and talk? They will only keep you."

"I won't let them."

"They will think you are crazy if you tell them truth," Anna said. Her voice was softer, the anger in it fading into something more sympathetic. She reached a hand to cup his cheek. "They will keep you, and we will never see you again."

"No."

"You are _mine_ now," she said softly, stepping close to kiss him. "No tiny army can come here and take you."

"Please, let me try," Sid said against her mouth.

Anna studied his face with a pensive frown, then raised her hand. Before Sid realized what she was doing, she snapped her fingers. With no warning, he was in his room alone with the door and windows sealed shut. Of course, they didn't budge when he threw himself against them. "Anna, please!"

Sid pried and yelled and pled with the door until he heard the beat of enormous wings outside. Then he knew it was over. Anna was flying down to either be killed by his family's army or destroy it—his sister included. He slid down against the wall with his knees up to his chest and felt hollow. How could he ever forgive her if she came back? How could he forgive himself for not trying more?

Sid wasn't given long to wallow in self-pity before someone tapped on the door. He lifted his head to look at it. "Zhenya?"

"Yes, I'm work on it. One second," Zhenya said. He sounded frustrated. "This thing is not easy."

After another series of taps, the door fell open. Zhenya burst inside the room. "It worked!"

"How did you do that? She locked it with magic."

"I learn things sometimes," Zhenya said with a sad little grin and a shrug. He lifted a stick—a magic wand. "Little bit magic, even I can use."

"Where's Anna?"

"She go to see the army."

"Zhenya, that's my sister leading the army. You don't understand. Please, you have to help me."

"Shh, I know. That why I come." Zhenya held up a little stone. "You see me use this before."

"Yes."

"I can take you, but you have to think really hard. Think about your sister only." Zhenya placed the stone in Sid's palm and closed his hand around Sid's. "Squeeze hard and think."

Sid allowed his eyes to fall closed. He thought of the image of his sister decked out in battle gear. He banished thoughts of his father—worry about why the king would not lead this charge against the dragon himself. Instead, he focused on his sister's tent in the center of camp, the launching point for the attack. It was grey with royal blue trim and silver fastenings. It bore the family crest on the entrance.

A pull in his stomach jolted Sid from his thoughts. He felt as though some colossal hand had grabbed him around the waist and carried him off. By the time he could open his eyes, the feeling had passed.

With a jolt, Sid realized he was standing in mud churned by dozens of boots amid a sea of army tents. When he turned, he saw his family's crest on the doors of his sister's tent. "We did it," he gasped, breaking away from Zhenya's grip. "Zhenya, we—"

Before he could finish speaking, the screech of the dragon pierced the air. He looked and registered the sight of the army down by the tree line, prepared for war with the dragon. He could just make out Anna flying high in and out of the clouds.

"We have to get to the front lines," Sid said. "I have to get to Taylor. I can still stop this."

Sid glanced around for a horse to get him up to the battalion. The battle horses would be with the men, but there was a cart set up to carry the bodies back to the camp. Praying he could prevent the cart's necessity, Sid cut the horse free and swung onto its back. He reached for Zhenya with a fleeting memory of when they used to ride together for fun, when the situation wasn't dire. Zhenya grasped his hand to swing up, and Sid urged the horse onward into a gallop.

Far above them, Anna let out a blood-curdling scream.

"Faster," Zhenya yelled in his ear. He sounded afraid, and his arms tightened around Sid's chest. Sid kicked the horse harder than he would in a non-life-or-death situation and pushed it as fast as it would go.

Sid could just make out the faces of the men bustling around behind the front lines when he caught sight of a vast, reptilian body swooping down from the sky. He saw the soldiers readying the catapults and enormous crossbows.

"Stop!" Sid called just as the first catapult released, hurling a stone the size of a cart at Anna. Sid jerked around to look when she dodged. Thank god it missed her. She was circling and climbing to make another pass when Sid reached the battalion.

"Stand down," Sid yelled as he rode through. "I order you all to stop. Stand down, by order of the prince."

"The prince is dead," someone shouted. "That's why we're in this mess."

Sid stopped his horse and jumped down to stalk toward the man. He watched realization dawn in the soldiers' eyes, awe slackening their expressions. "I'm not dead," he said. "Now stand down."

"What is going on over here?" another voice—Taylor's voice—snapped out. Relief coursed through Sid when he turned to see her riding up astride her armored warhorse. He got to see the same realization come over her face when she saw him.

"Sid?" she asked, voice weak. "Oh my god. We thought you were—that the dragon—Sid!" She seemed to get her body under control and scrambled down to run to him.

Sid hugged his sister in her bulky armor. "I'm okay. I'm sorry."

"Where have you been?" Taylor cried.

Above them, Anna screeched. Sid jerked back. "I'll explain later, but—Taylor, you have to call off the attack. I can stop her, but only if you don't shoot at her."

“Her? The fucking _dragon_? It’s a _her_?”

"She's not a dragon. She's a person—a witch."

"That's better?"

"Taylor, you have to trust me right now. You were right. If you attack her, you'll only provoke her. She's hurt and mad, but I can stop her. Please."

Taylor hesitated a long beat and then nodded. Sid clapped her on the shoulders and jogged back to Zhenya, who stood holding the cart horse steady. "Stay with my sister," Sid said low. "If this goes bad, get her out of here."

Zhenya's expression flashed with doubt, but he knew there was no time to waste. As Sid turned toward the front lines, Zhenya moved to speak with his sister. Sid could hear her behind him calling the men down as he picked up his pace. The soldiers were confusedly pulling away from their weapons as he sprinted past and burst out in front of them.

Anna came into sight through the clouds, dropping like a falcon toward the assembled soldiers. She was moving so fast Sid wasn't sure she would even see him, but he ran toward her as fast as he could.

"Anna!" Sid called to her. He was twenty yards out from the front lines now, thirty, forty. She would see him—he knew she would. "Anna stop!"

Anna opened her mouth and sucked in a huge breath. Sid had seen the behavior before, the dragon breathing fire down on his ice rink. She was going to rain death down on the men who attacked her. As she hurdled toward him, Sid stopped and braced. He wouldn't survive a dragon's flame if she decided to let loose.

"Please stop," Sid said too quietly for anyone to hear just before Anna reached him.

The dragon unfurled her massive wings like sails and came to a tail-whipping stop just in front of Sid. He watched her talons dig into the earth where they settled. He looked up and up and up at her until he could meet her slitted green eyes. She was glaring down directly at him before her gaze roamed up and over the army.

"Anna," Sid called. "They're not going to shoot at you. You're safe now."

Anna snorted. A puff of smoke floated away from her nostrils.

"I know it's not easy. But you're just going to have to trust me."

She looked at him for a long time before she started to shrink. In a cloud of green smoke, she became the woman he had come to know, standing before him looking incredibly uncertain. He strode forward and wrapped her up in his arms.

"Thank you," Sid whispered. He felt choked with relief.

Anna's hands came up to press against his back and squeeze him tightly. "How did you get here?" she asked.

"Zhenya. I used his little rock—"

"Hearthstone," she corrected.

"He came with me. He's back there with my sister."

"Zhenya is here?" she asked, pulling back to look at his face. He watched a stricken look come over her. "Oh no. I could have—"

"You didn't," Sid said firmly. Dwelling on what might have been, who Anna could have hurt, would do no good. "It's okay now. We're okay. Come with me."

Anna took his hand and followed him back to the army. Zhenya met them before they reached the trebuchets, guiltily ducking out with a little shrug at Anna. He said something in their language and made Anna crack a small smile.

"What?" Sid asked.

"He say to let him lay down first before I make him sleep,” she replied.

"You won't really," Sid said, distressed to potentially be back at square one with her. Thankfully, Anna shook her head while looking around at all of the wide-eyed soldiers she might have burned in her rage. She looked conflicted and ashamed, ducking her head to hide under her mane of hair.

The soldiers scrambled to part for them as Sid lead Anna through them. They were so quiet they might have all been holding their breath.

Sid led Anna to his sister with Zhenya in their wake. "This is Taylor."

Anna held out her hand with a guarded look. Sid could tell she didn't expect Taylor to touch her. When Taylor grasped her hand immediately, Anna looked surprised.

"Not every day you get to shake hands with a dragon," Taylor said. Her grin was an offering, inviting Anna to join her in lightening the mood. "Do mythical creatures have names?"

A smile broke through the uncertainty of Anna's face as she offered her name. "It's very good to meet you. Sid tell me a lot about his little sister."

"Well, funny, because he never said a word about you. Or, you know, came home." Taylor shot an only partly playful glare at Sid.

"It's my fault," Anna said. "I'm sorry I keep him."

"I just couldn't leave her," Sid said, jumping in to cover for whatever she might be about to admit. One day, he would let Taylor know about the whole ordeal, but not when they were standing on a battlefield surrounded by dragon-killing weapons. For now, he needed Taylor to accept Anna and would do whatever it took to make it happen. "You know how it is. You fall in love, and time just—flies."

"Love?" Taylor asked, eyes darting between Anna and Zhenya questioningly, wondering which one he was in love with. She seemed to work it out before Sid said anything, eyes boring into his. He shrugged sheepishly.

"Between the two of them, I was practically under a spell."

Taylor's eyes returned to Zhenya. "Is he a dragon too?"

Sid shook his head. "Not that I know of," he said, and Zhenya snorted behind him.

"Well," Taylor said, swallowing her obvious trepidation. "I'm just so glad you're back. You're coming back to the palace, right? Mom and dad have been worried sick."

"Dad's okay? You were leading the army, so I thought—"

"Dad's fine," Taylor said. "It was my plan to come here, so I wanted to lead. He let me. He's been including me in everything since—" Her face fell from optimistic excitement to realization. "Well. Since I _was_ going to be queen.”

Sid didn't say it, but he knew right then and there that he would never be king. He hadn't thought about it directly while he lived with Anna and Zhenya in the mountains, but the moment with his sister brought him clarity. He might not be dead as the kingdom assumed, but he would never rule. He wrapped an arm around his sister. "It's going to be okay. Trust me."

***

As it turned out, the kingdom felt far more comfortable with the idea of Sid's abdication after learning that he had disappeared into the woods and come down with two lovers—one of whom was a magical creature. Even his father gave his wholehearted approval of Sid's request to step down, given that the alternative was to fit Zhenya and Anna both for crowns because Sid wouldn't choose between them.

"A king lives by more rules than anyone can conceive," Sid's father told him over a bottle of wine when the matter had been decided. "If you wish to live a free life, better to do so away from the crown."

The king said it with a glint in his eye that Sid recognized as approval. Sid couldn't help a grin in response as he realized. "You're relieved. You saw how Taylor ran things, and you want her to be queen."

"She did appear to all of the council meetings on time, prepared to talk about the news of the day."

Sid barked a laugh, and his father chuckled along. Relief was the feeling in the room for both of them.

Of course, Sid's abdication did nothing to assuage Anna's doubts about living in the kingdom. When he first brought it up with her, she balked.

"No, I live in kingdom before. Zhenya's kingdom. They are fine with witch, and then they are not."

"Zhenya wasn't the prince of his kingdom," Sid tried.

"You also not prince now," Zhenya piped in unhelpfully, to which Sid held up a hand and chased after Anna.

Anna won the first round and the second. At her insistence, they stayed in the mountains, isolated though everybody now knew they were there. As a compromise, she created a hearthstone for Sid to spend his time traveling back and forth from the cottage in the trees to the kingdom. At first, he used it to attend to his duties as the prince and facilitate his own abandonment of the crown.

With the matters of state concluded, he turned to another subject. He remembered what Anna had said about Zhenya, how he wooed her into marriage—he had built her a house. To convince Anna to live with him in the kingdom, Sid would do the same. And he knew the perfect spot to build.

The crew started construction in the heat of mid-summer when the days were very long. Sid oversaw the planning and framing, even wielded a hammer himself on more than one occasion. After all, Anna had said Zhenya built her a house by hand. Sid needed to put his own sweat into the work to put weight into his proposal.

The days were still warm, but the trees were just beginning to tinge with orange and yellow and red when the final wooden shingle was nailed onto the roof, completing the house by the river. It took Sid another three days to convince Anna to venture down to see it.

Despite the warmth and bright skies and lack of snow, Zhenya recognized the spot immediately upon arrival. He laughed and shoved Sid on the shoulder. "It's our spot where we skate," he said, pointing down to the river.

"Yeah, I thought—you know. We could still skate every day when it's cold."

Anna stood apprehensively staring at the river, hugging her arms around herself. Sid tried not to show that he was watching her, waiting to see if she might approve. When she cut her eyes toward him, it was with a wry grin. "I can make it cold every day, freeze river."

"That sounds like a lot of energy," Sid said, but he considered it. He took the offer as acceptance that she planned to stay there with him. With her acquiescence secured, he ran them through the empty house, making plans for furnishings and décor. Anna started out aloof and shrugging but quickly evolved to telling Sid exactly what type of bed he needed to put in the large bedroom.

By the time the house was furnished, the trees were losing their leaves. Anna settled in like a kicked dog—waiting, it seemed, for the other shoe to drop.

Instead of whatever evil Anna expected to befall her, Taylor began dropping by. It seemed that life without a dragon to worry about was full of free time for the princess of the realm, and she wanted to use that free time to bother Sid's little family. Taylor's approval, knowing that she would one day rule the kingdom, finally pulled some of the stress out of Anna and allowed her to settle.

On the first day of snow in their new home, Sid woke up with Zhenya gently shaking his shoulder. Zhenya's eyes were shining and happy. He put a finger across his lips to keep Sid quiet as he ushered him out of bed, leaving Anna there sleeping. Zhenya clasped Sid's hand and led him to the front door, flung it open, and grinned out.

They could see the river from their porch. Sid could just make out the surface of the water, frozen over with a layer of snow. He grinned at Zhenya, who smiled back. "Not long now."

Zhenya kissed him in the open doorway as the snow swirled outside, the lifecycle of winter beginning anew.

**Author's Note:**

> And they all lived happily ever after. :)


End file.
